Changes for Leonide Martin Blog

[image error] Broadening Perspectives: Historical Fiction, the Process of Writing, and the Author Community

“People say, ‘What advice do you have for people who want to be writers?’ I say, they don’t really need advice, they know they want to be writers, and they’re gonna do it. Those people who know that they really want to do this and are cut out for it, they know it.”

—R.L. Stine, Interview with Writers’ Digest 2011)

Leonide Martin Blog has focused on ancient Maya civilization since I started it over 5 years ago. The astonishing Mayan culture is still the focus of my writing, as I press forward to finish the final book in the Mists of Palenque series about four great Mayan queens. The first three books are published as ebooks, and the first two as print books. Book 3 is set for print publication in

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Mists of Palenque Series
Four Great Mayan Queens

March, 2018 and if I can keep on schedule Book 4 will come out in both print and ebook formats in November, 2018. After that, who knows? There is yet another Mayan queen in the ruling family of Pakal in Palenque, though little is known about her. Many fascinating stories remain to be told about the Mayas whose civilization lasted over two millennia and extended over a huge territory stretching from southern Mexico to Honduras. Yet, other historical subjects are starting to whisper their alluring promise. I might be tempted to write fiction drawing from my own family history:  French Catholics of south Louisiana, with branches coming from central France to New Orleans, and others migrating to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to become Acadians. The Acadian story is dramatic, heroic, and tragic; a long tale of persecution and diaspora, until many arrived in south Louisiana bayou country to become today’s Cajuns.

 

 

 

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Deportation of Acadians
The Canadian Encyclopedia

The Process of Writing 

I’m also planning to include more content about the process of writing, including background into the characters and story lines of the Mayan queens series. This will begin with exploring the

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Tz’aakb’u Ahau
The Red Queen

historic and fictional characters in The Mayan Red Queen: Tz’aakb’u Ahau of Palenque. Readers will get insight into these famous and not-so-famous Mayas, and how I shaped their characters from what is known and what I could imagine within context of the reasonable and the inferential. With the print book being published in six months, having background will enhance readers’ ability to put the people, places and story in context.

Author Community

Another new direction for Leonide Martin Blog is hosting guest blog posts and selected book reviews. Engaging with the author community is stimulating and informative; we learn so much from each other. I’ve done guest blog posts over the past few years, and always enjoyed the connections. I’m interested in author blog tours, a less grueling process than actual bookstore tours. So, I will be hosting an author in early November as part of his blog tour. Presently I’m reading his book and finding it heartfelt, lyrical, and gripping. Animal and nature lovers take note: this is a book about the deep spiritual connections we have with our environment and non-human companions. I will post my review here on my blog, and at online websites. In case you’re interested in reading the book here is the link:

J. Mitchel Baker, A Journey Within

“Animals hold great meaning in my soul. . . Shamans consider the swan totem to be a reminder: we are souls having a human a human experience. Their message is intended to awaken[image error] our spiritual evolution, to develop and honor our intuition, to trust our instincts, to find our own inner strength.” – J. Mitchel Baker

“Until one has loved an animal a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.” – Anatole France (Ch. 11, A Journey Within)

 

 

 

I hope this expanded approach that Leonide Martin Blog is taking will create engagement with a wider range of readers and authors. You can connect with me through several platforms – I invite you to explore further and would greatly appreciate a closer relationship with you. Each platform has a “Follow” or “Friend” or “Like” button for you to click.

BookBub

Goodreads

Amazon

Facebook

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Ernest Hemingway

“As a writer, you should not judge, you should understand.” ― Ernest Hemingway

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Robert Frost

 

 

“No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.”

– Robert Frost