#Romance Fiction Read Dating Anyone?

A novelist giving talks to groups is one thing, being one of six novelists giving a fifteen minute background chat and reading, will be...  interesting.

But which sort of Romance will we be talking about?

As any reader of the genre knows, it comes in all shades, from baby-blush pink to red in tooth and claw. With laughs. With tears. Always with heart-thumping moments, though not necessarily due to the most expected reason.

For more information click the Authors' links to jump to their individual websites:

Rhoda Baxter writes Smart Romantic Comedy, and as Jeevani Charika she writes multi-cultural women's fiction.

Sylvia Broady's 20th century family sagas are set in Hull and Yorkshire.

Ellie Gray writes contemporary romances using settings as different as the Nile and the North Yorkshire coast.

Annie Wilkinson writes pre- and post- World War I family sagas across a swathe of Northumbrian, Hull and London settings.

Jenni Fletcher's Historicals are spread cross time periods as disparate as Roman, Medieval and Victorian.

Linda Acaster - yes, me - writing Medieval and Native American Historicals, and Fantasy Romance set in Hull and North Yorkshire. As I said, red in tooth and claw.

So note it on your calendar: Saturday 18th May at the Treasure House & Art Gallery, Beverley, 12.30-3.30pm. Come make a day of it. There is a very good cafe on hand.

Early Summer eBook Promos #99c / #99p - Part 2

Following on from Part 1 - some of whose promotions may still be live, check before purchasing - here's the current promos I'm involved with. There won't be any more for a while, so take advantage while they're available.

Just finishing (ignore the date) are Speculative Fiction titles from Magic Book Deals SpecFic including sub-genres from Dystopian to Romance, Epic Fantasy to Supernatural Chills. My title is The Paintings.

Open now for Kindle Unlimited Addicts, this time from Magic Book Deals Romance until 5th June. My title is Beneath The Shining Mountains.

And finally, for this coming weekend only, over 60 titles in the Fantasy and Science Fiction genres from the site of prolific author Patty Jansen. My title is Torc of Moonlight, Bk 1.

Enjoy your reading!

Early Summer eBook Promos #99p / #99c - Part 1

The sun is shining yellow, the apple blossom is tinting pink, and the first of the early summer ebook promotions are waving their flags on Kindle. Each listed carries one of my titles. Do you enjoy quizzes? Match the book to the promo!

First up is Magic Book Deals with the Romance Book Fair. From Regency to Contemporary, Fantasy to  PNR, there's even a boxed set! The titles are listed from chaste to steamy. Hover over a book cover and it will spin to its mini-blurb, which is a nice professional touch.

For a complete change of gear, if you use Facebook and live in the UK, you can enter a competition from Val Wood, bestselling author of Historical Sagas set in and around the East Riding of Yorkshire. Three lucky winners will gain a group of paperbacks from writers who live in and write about the region: Noir Crime, Chicklit, PI Crime, Fantasy Romance, and Val Wood's latest. No gold stars for realising which of my books is on offer. The competition is open until 12th June. Read all about it on her Facebook Page.

And another change of gear to Science Fiction and Fantasy hosted by renowned curator SFF Book Bonanza. From Space Opera to Steampunk, Epic Fantasy to Fables and Mythology, Young Adult and Humour - even a very good trilogy (I know, because I've read it!) there is at least one title to whet your appetite. Although the promo launches on the 21st, the titles are up and most of the prices have already fallen. Just check them before you hit buy.

Phew! If you can bear it, Part 2 will follow next week. Enjoy your reading!

Romancing the Fantasy - Stuart Aken

With a week to the release of the first of his Fantasy trilogy: A Seared Sky: Joinings, I am pleased to welcome Stuart Aken to talk about a subject dear to my heart...

Romance in fantasy? But, isn’t fantasy all about dragons, swords and sorcery, maybe elves, goblins and other magical folk? That’s certainly the image projected by much that falls under the umbrella of ‘epic fantasy’.

Fantasy, of course, includes dozens of sub-genres, and strays into areas reserved for other forms. Perhaps, before continuing, we need to define what fantasy is in regard to story-telling? It’s a tale set in a world, time, or dimension, or a combination of these, different from what we believe is reality. It may also involve animals as protagonists as well as beings that don’t exist in the known world.

Animal Farm, the Twilight series, the cult of Demonic Eroticism, Alice in Wonderland, paranormal stories, much of soft science fiction, animal-based novels like The Stonor Eagles and Watership Down, and many others fall within the wider definition of fantasy. And, clearly, romance does exist within this broader definition.

Noticeably, however, it’s far less common in epic fantasy. One reason may be that this specific sub-genre is often aimed at the YA/teen market and, more specifically, at boys. Boys are not, as a rule, attracted by romance. Sex, yes, but romance, no. There’s no more than a hint of romance in the most famous epic fantasy, the Lord of the Rings trilogy (Sam and Rosie, Arwen and Aragon), and this holds true for many within the genre. With the entry of more female authors into the field, it is becoming more common.

Perhaps we should also define ‘epic fantasy’? It usually involves a world that is ‘other’, a quest, magic in some form, battles, and themes that include ‘good versus evil’. But romance? Not commonly, especially from male authors.

No rules, and no valid reasons, exclude romance from epic fantasy. My own feeling is that the inclusion enhances such a tale and allows readers to enjoy the invented world much more. So, perhaps it depends on what readership the author envisages. In fact, I suspect that the exclusion of a romantic element has actively discouraged many readers who would otherwise appreciate this form of fiction.

My epic fantasy trilogy, A Seared Sky, is aimed at an adult readership, though it is also suitable for a YA audience over the age of 15. I’ve woven the story around three sets of couples in each of the three volumes. These threads are romantically based, though the underlying story they carry is far more complex than that simple scenario might imply. I have some magic, in the form of a limited type of telepathy. I have battles, physical and mental, involving war between good and evil. And I have a central quest, involving many characters in a search for what they believe is a crucial artefact.

Romance is as fundamental to the telling of my tale as any other element. But the story remains a fantasy and is an epic, covering adventure over many lands in an invented world. Will you see it in those terms? Discover for yourself. Joinings, the first volume, is published by Fantastic Books Publishing on 30^th March in both paperback and ebook formats. There’s a launch party, to which you’re all invited. The publisher is putting on quite a show. It’s a virtual event, online, so you can attend from anywhere in the world. To find out more, click this link.

P.S. As an illustration of how little romance there is in epic fantasy, I searched for hours to find a suitable illustration for this post and the one up top was the best I could find!

Relaunch - Torc of Moonlight

Today is re-launch day of Torc of Moonlight, nudging it slightly so that it moves from 'Supernatural Thriller' into 'Paranormal Romance', hence the commissioned new book cover.

Categorising a novel can make or break its sales, or at least seriously dent them. While Torc of Moonlight has garnered a good number of 4* and 5* reviews - 17 on Amazon UK alone - its sales have been less than startling. I still regard it as my best novel, both for its multi-layered storylines and use of metaphor & symbolism - not that many readers are interested in dissecting a novel to that extent. A good read is a good read, as far as most readers are concerned, and that is what I aimed to provide.

I have also had reverted my paperback rights, so it seemed an ideal time for a revamp. That should follow in about a month.

In the meantime, the new ebook is available for Kindle:
UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004FEFCKK
USA: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004FEFCKK  

Apple, Nook, Kobo, Sony will filter through from the distributor in around a week, but in the meantime are available from: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/29377

To Name is to Imbue with Life

Do you want rent rooms at Burtonleigh House or Bleak House? Take a picnic to Springfield Crest or Danklow Pits? Drive there in a beat-up Honda or a beat-up Ferrari?
     Why?
     Knowing why we, as people, make instant choices helps us, as writers, choose with care. Of course, our choices only seem instant to us. Our brains have been taking information, collating it, comparing elements of it to previous experience, before giving us… a reasonable guess.
     Readers of our writing are doing this all the time, so quickly they hardly notice, taking from the page a word or phrase or entire paragraph and comparing it to their experiences so as to help build pictures in their minds. But coming across a name adds importance, it adds associations:

          ‘Do you want to go for a picnic today?’
          ‘Don’t mind. Not bothered.’
          ‘We could go to Danklow Pits.’
          ‘Oh, wow! Yeah! Last time we went…’

     Perhaps that made you blink, perhaps it didn’t. It depends how you felt about Danklow Pits when you first came across it as a bare name at the top of this post, your own associations, your emotional baggage. The fictional speaker’s emotional baggage is positive based on previous experiences there, but are you, as a reader, convinced? Do you remain wary of picnicking at Danklow Pits? Are you willing to go along to see if your first impression, based on a feeling, a hunch due to its name alone, was justified?
     This sort of juxtapositioning of characters’ and readers’ experiences is used a lot in the Horror genre, used in Thrillers and some Crime, depending on the sub-genre, and used sparingly and with subtlety in most other genres. Carried along by the pace, readers hardly notice, but the writers have made specific choices with a pay-off in mind, not set such in the text on a whim. They are fuelling atmosphere and readers’ anticipation, setting it down as a fine layer to be added to later, often via choices in description.
      In genres such as Romance, the naming of places and things is chosen to reinforce readers’ expectations of the sub-genre they have selected, but atmosphere and anticipation remain the writer’s goal. Danklow would ring alarms on a subliminal level no matter what it was used in conjunction with, because D-k are sharp sounding consonants, and the way a word ripples across the tongue, or across the reader’s mind, is always taken into consideration.
     Naming does imbue with life, so when making a choice decide first what pay-off you, the writer, want in return.

Also read post: Description: Signposts in the Text