Siobhan Daiko's Blog, page 11
June 19, 2015
Siobhan Daiko: A Titillating Author to Explore during Droughtlander
I’m honored to be featured on Buzzard’s Eye View today.
Originally posted on Buzzard's Eye View:
Kindle Book Cover of Siobhan Daiko’s Veronica Courtesan
Ahh! Summertime! Not the best time for television–all our favorite shows have aired their finales topping each other this season for the most gruesome, the most sensational, the bloodiest, most humiliating drag out pull of emotions that television has ever seen. Take heart, they’ll be back with more eye-shocking and gut-wrenching visuals next year to compete again to capture the gold for the show that merits the most tweets and Facebook comments.
Paperback cover of Veronica by Siobhan Daiko
In the interim, for those lusting for more of the between the sheets action between the likes of Jamie Frasier and his wife Claire of Outlander fame, why not curl up with a good book that might just titillate your imagination? Eschew the anodyne idea that a picture is worth a thousand words–put your mind to work and you’ll be piqued by what…
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June 18, 2015
Siobhan Daiko Veronica Courtesan Cover Reveal and Pre-order
I am so, so excited to announce the new cover reveal of Veronica COURTESAN. Available for pre-order now, although the new cover will take about a week to update on my Amazon page. Thank you Be My Book Boyfriend Promotions!
Originally posted on Be My Book Boyfriend:
Title; VERONICA COURTESAN
Author; SIOBHAN DAIKO
Genre; EROTICA
I watch him watching us, imagining how he would take me.
I send him the message with my eyes.
This is who I am.
I am Veronica Franco.
I am a COURTESAN.
I court the cultural elite for fame and fortune, giving my body to many.
And I’m good. So very good. After all, I was taught by my mother, and mother always knows best.
How else to please the future King of France than with the imaginative use of Murano glass? How else to fulfill the desires of all yet keep my sense of self-worth?
But when disaster strikes and my life begins to unravel, I’ll have to ask myself one question:
Is it too late to give my heart to just one man?
Set in Venice 16th Century.
Advisory: sensuously erotic. 18+
Amazon
Paperback
Siobhan Daiko is an author of…
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June 17, 2015
Somebody pinch me!
My lovely writer friend, Jo Bartlett’s debut full-length novel has just been published. So happy for her!
Originally posted on thewriteromantics:
I know there’s nothing more annoying than someone telling you about the dream they had last night, but bear with me please, or perhaps that should be ‘bare’ with me given the nature of the dream…
It was one of those almost nightmarish scenarios where you realise you are totally exposed. It wasn’t quite as bad as the recurring dream my friend has about pushing a shopping trolley around Morrisons, in her birthday suit, but it was bad enough. Somehow, in my dream, I had got myself a job promoting gym membership. Now trust me when I say I wouldn’t be anyone’s first choice to promote their gym. Perhaps I could make it as a ‘before’ photo, but I’ve somehow never got round to getting the necessary physique for the ‘after’ shots. Anyway, I digress. In this dream it was my job to stand in the high street, wearing nothing…
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June 12, 2015
In The Chair 19
Meet the lovely Jane Dixon-Smith. Not only the designer of fantastic covers but also a brilliant writer.
Originally posted on janruthblog:
Welcome, Jane Dixon-Smith.
How would you describe your writing style in only three words?
Jane: Lyrical. Historical. Concise.
If you could have a relationship with one of your fictional characters who would it be and why?
Jane: King Mark from Tristan and Iseult – probably because I feel sorry for him and he’s such a nice bloke. Bamdad from the Overlord series makes me laugh but he’s not someone I could see myself with for more than a year.
If you had to exist for a week in one of your books … which would it be? Would you be a central character or simply watch the story unfold from the sidelines?
Jane: I think I’d have to opt for The second to last book in the Overlord series (not yet written) because I can’t wait to see what happens. I’d have to be a minor character. I’d love to be Zenobia but…
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June 10, 2015
Sweet Nothings
Love horses? I loved Jan Ruth’s “Midnight Sky” and I’m so looking forward to the sequel.
Originally posted on janruthblog:
Just when you think you know everything about a subject, along comes someone to blow apart a lifetime of assumptions.
Monty Roberts’ father was virtually destroyed by his son’s belief in ‘horse-whispering’, as a far more humane and less exhausting method of breaking and training horses. It’s no secret that Monty took a severe beating for it.
A remarkable man, Roberts went on to foster disadvantaged children, using much the same wisdom and insight he’d learnt through studying horses and their social groups in the wild. It’s too easy – and often misguided – to bestow animals with human emotion, but maybe trust is rooted in the same place in humans as in horses, and observation and interpretation is all that’s required to make a valuable connection, regardless of language. And isn’t whispering usually far more effective than shouting? Much the same as writing good fiction; and if we’re talking…
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June 8, 2015
Lady of Asolo has been featured on Being Anne
I’m so honoured that “Lady of Asolo” was featured on Being Anne yesterday. The novel is being translated into German now and the Italian translation will soon be available.
Review – Lady Of Asolo by Siobhan Daiko
We can’t change the past, but the past can change us…
Grappling her own demons and the after-effects of a disaster, Fern battles to keep hold of her sanity as she’s snatched back in time and lives the life of Cecilia, a young woman at the court of Queen Caterina Cornaro, near Venice, in the early 16th Century. Luca, a local architect, comes to Fern’s aid when Cecilia embarks on a passionate affair with the artist Zorzo.
Echoes of the past manifest themselves increasingly in the present through a series of startling coincidences until past and present collide, throwing Fern and Cecilia into mortal peril. Can Luca keep Fern out of danger and help her come to terms with her own past?
Lady of Asolo by Siobhan Daiko was published for kindle in November 2014, and in paperback in February this year. I was thoroughly delighted when author offered a copy for review via THE Book Club on Facebook – it just looked so perfectly “me”. I always love timeslip novels – dual time stories, but where characters move between two periods, historical and modern. Not only that, but I’m also a total pushover for anything with a historical Venice connection. If I’d provided a specification, the author really couldn’t have done better.
With dual time or timeslip stories, what can let them down is when one story grabs you more than the other – the shifts can become more of a wrench. That never happens here, both stories being equally strong and appealing. In the modern story – set in 1989 – Fern has undergone a recent traumatic experience, and is recovering on holiday with her eccentric aunt. I know some readers didn’t particularly take to her, but I thought her slight coldness was wholly realistic given all she’d experienced. Luca too, I thought was perfect – a full-on Italian romantic hero wouldn’t have worked anything like as well. I really liked his understated approach, the care he took not to frighten Fern off – overall, a perfectly handled love story.
The historical story, set in early 16th century Italy has plainly been meticulously researched. Based on some real characters, some introduced by the author, the court of Catherine Cornaro is vividly recreated, with wonderful bits of detail about the food, the clothing and the entertainment. The author’s descriptive powers are quite excellent – together with Fern/Cecilia, we move in a world that we can see, feel and touch. I really liked the detail about the art – Fern is an artist, and Cecilia is learning from her lover. I actually went on to read more about Giorgione and to look at his painting The Tempest – and was quite fascinated to learn about the female figure that x-rays have revealed has been painted out.
I really liked the way the time transitions were handled – images in mirrors, the whispered cries of “Lorenza”, the hint of a smell of burning, the piece of charred wood. I guess you either accept that this moving between times is able to happen or you don’t – but this was so well done that I signed up to it completely. I did particularly like the matter-of-fact acceptance of Luca’s mother – after all, she was used to falling asleep to the sound of a medieval lute player at her own villa.
The shifts in time are quite seamless, the stories complementing each other perfectly, both with strong heroines and strong romantic leading men. I did wonder if I might be uncomfortable with the erotic content that touches and affects both the heroines – but not at all, I thought is was very tastefully done and really nothing you wouldn’t allow your mother to read.
I really enjoyed this book – a lovely escape from everyday reality, well written, meticulously researched, wonderfully romantic with strong characters and a page-turning and dramatic story. On Amazon it says that those who enjoy the work of Barbara Erskine, Pamela Hartshorn and Susanna Kearsley should also like Lady of Asolo. I’d add two more of my timeslip writing favourites, Christina Courtenay and Rachel Hore, and also beef up that comment that you “should also like” it – you’ll most definitely love it, as I did.
Siobhan Daiko was born in Hong Kong, educated in Perth, Western Australia, and moved to the UK in 1981. She has worked in the City of London, once ran a post office/B&B in Herefordshire, and, more recently, taught Modern Foreign Languages in a Welsh high school. Siobhan now lives with her husband in the Veneto region of Northern Italy, where she spends her time writing, researching historical characters, and enjoying the dolce vita. “Lady of Asolo“, previously known as “In My Lady’s Shadow”, was her first book to be published. She is an author of romantic historical fiction and a new series of erotic novellas featuring famous courtesans – strong women who held their own in a man’s world. You can find her on Facebook and Twitter.
Posted by Anne Williams at 15:49
May 29, 2015
“The Orchid Tree” will soon be released as an audio book.
The lovely Gill Hoodless has just finished narrating and producing The Orchid Tree as an audio book, soon to be released on Audible, Amazon and iTunes.
Listen to the sample. It’s FAB!!!
In The Chair 5
Meet my writer friend, Prue Batten!
Originally posted on janruthblog:
Welcome, Prue Batten
How would you describe your writing style in only three words?
Prue: Luscious, 3-D, surround-sound.
If you could have a relationship with one of your fictional characters who would it be and why?
Prue: Gisborne! He’s so broodingly Heathcliff and infuriatingly good-looking!
If you had to exist for a week in one of your books … which would it be? Would you be a central character or simply watch the story unfold from the sidelines?
Prue: Tobias. As yet unpublished. (July 2015).
Dead or alive literary dinner party: who would you invite, and what would you serve?
Prue: Dorothy Dunnett without doubt. She remains the doyen of hist.fict in my opinion and is reputed to have had a wicked sense of humour. JK Rowling because I love Harry Potter and admire what JKR has done for literacy amongst children. I also admire her philanthropy. Christian Cameron, because he is a super-charged…
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May 28, 2015
Postcard from Venice: Traffic over the Grand Canal
I love this shot of the Grand Canal in Venice and the great advice on how to photograph it.
Originally posted on Shooting Venice and more:
Grand Canal – Morning Traffic
I still have a couple of gorgeous photographic spots to share with you from my recent trip to the United States, but now is the time for a postcard from Venice: one of the most classic view of “Canal Grande”.
Location: Accademia Bridge (Ponte dell’Accademia). Together with the Rialto Bridge, the Ponte degli Scalzi, and the new Ponte della Costituzione, by Santiago Calatrava, it is one of the four bridges that cross the Grand Canal, is the major water-traffic corridor of Venice.
What to shot: From Ponte dell’Accademia you’ll have a vantage point toward part of the Grand Canal with its pompous buildings, the church of Santa Maria della Salute, and Punta della Dogana, where the water of the Canal Grande meets Saint Mark Basin’s ones.
Ideal time to shot: Sunrise of course, but don’t think to be there alone. This site has become one…
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May 26, 2015
In The Chair 2
John Hudspith, my editor, in the chair. ‘Discombobulated’ is one of my fave words too. :-)
Originally posted on janruthblog:
Welcome, John Hudspith
How would you describe your writing style in only three words?
John: Imaginative. Tight. Irreverent.
If you could have a relationship with one of your fictional characters who would it be and why?
John: Patina from the Kimi books. With eyes that change colour every two minutes and the ability to store 100 secretaries up her skirt, what’s not to love?
If you had to exist for a week in one of your books … which would it be? Would you be a central character or simply watch the story unfold from the sidelines?
John: Kimi’s Fear – Heart is such a beautiful place, what with the talking monkeys and roast dodo on the menu. Oh, and I’d play God.
Dead or alive literary dinner party: who would you invite, and what would you serve?
John: Charles Dickens, Mark Gatiss, Enid Blyton and Agatha Christie. I’d serve…
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