Showing posts with label Alison Morton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alison Morton. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

My Review of AURELIA by Alison Morton

A Winner in the True Sense of the Word 


FIVE STARS

    Starting a series with Book 4 may not always be a good thing – except when the content is laid out by a writer like Alison Morton. No wonder, Aurelia, Book 4 of the Roma Nova Series, is a Finalist for the 2016 Historical Novel Society Indie Award.
    Furthermore, Aurelia is a B.R.A.G. Medallion Honoree for excellence in writing. (“Honoree” having nothing to do with “honorable mention.” This is the real deal.)
     While there was plenty of action, the language flowed easily yet was intelligent; it didn’t need grisly detail or expletives to make you sit up a little straighter and hold your breath, wondering what was to come next. Toward the end, I actually became worried I might run out of pages before the story ended – I did not. But I was sorry to have come to the end of such an interesting speculative fiction premise.
Thank you, Alison Morton, for the enjoyable hours I spent reading Aurelia.
* * *

Find out Roma Nova news and book progress before everybody else, and take part in giveaways by signing up for Alison's free monthly email newsletter.

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

SHINING LIGHT ON OUR LADIES - BLOG HOP

 Enjoy this BLOG HOP
Dreamed up and Organized by the indefatigable

HELEN HOLLICK

Helen Hollick is the prolific author of historical books about Medieval England
as well as rollicking sea stories.
(More about her below)
Thank you, Helen.

Ten of us historical fiction writers will be 

PLEASE TWEET: 
#LightOnOurLadies



Week Four - 26th October:

Ladies of the Storm...And stormy these ladies are indeed.
In Helen Hollick's Sea Witch Voyages, her lovable rogue-pirate Jesamiah "finds it difficult to keep his breeches buttoned."
Read more about it here:


More stormy sea stories are on the blog of Anna Belfrage

and Linda Collison's Barbados Bound.
See here how she gets her lady out of a scrap:
http://www.lindacollison.com/shining-light-ladies/

Week Three - 20th October:


Helen_Hollick

(King Arthur’s women -- 
and, are they different

from the usual romantic descriptions!)

Paired with
Alison Morton







Week Two - 13th October:  
Helen_Hollick 
(Women of 1066) with 


Week One:
 6th October:  Helen_Hollick (Queen Emma) with
                     Pat  Bracewell and me...(below)


My contribution is:
Princess Nefret
from
Khamsin, The Devil Wind of The Nile
(Book 1 - Legends of the Winged Scarab)



     Princess Nefret, King Aha’s Royal Daughter and Heiress, was still so young, but her eternal soul was already old for it was a reawakened Ba.
This essence, having lived through paradise and cataclysms, was destined yet to live through many other storms for it was a sinner’s soul which had still not found atonement on this earth.
     She is just a girl, precocious and full of mischief. But for her first sixteen years, King Aha all but ignores his lively daughter leaving her upbringing mostly to Amma, her nurse-maid from the day she was born to her dying mother.
     Her education is guided by Ramose, the munificent High Priest of Ptah, a powerful force among the temples along the Nile. Still there are rumors from those who wish him toppled.
     ”Why, in a world of dark looks, do his eyes blaze like the daytime sky?” And Nefret’s own blue gaze adds fodder to the gristmills of suspicion.
     Storm clouds gather over Nefret’s head as the gentle dew of the girl's awakening into a woman brings dark shadows when her forbidden love for the young surgeon priest Tasar drives her to unspeakable deeds. Not even Ramose dares to save her from this trespass against the laws of Ma’at.
     Young Tasar must grapple with his conscience over the innocence he blemished so heedlessly. He has to choose between his priestly calling or whether he should flee from his ancient land with the young princess he has come to cherish.
     A fledgling khamsin grows into adolescence over the desolate sandy expanses of the great desert. When at last the Devil Wind’s hot fury is spent, all life among the dunes seems to have vanished - or has it?

Five thousand years later,
Nefret's golden death mask
is exhibited at the Cairo Museum.

Will this old soul, this sinner's Ba,
be reawakened to brave as yet another storm?
Find out in
Sirocco, Storm over Land and Sea (2),
After the Cataclysm (3)and
The Crystal Curse (4).
Look for Book 5 later this Fall.


* * * * *
During this hopping about with our Shining Ladies some wear hooped skirts while others have donned a toga, a pleated linen sheath, or even swashbuckling pirates' boots.

On this, our first Tuesday, I am partnered with
Helen Hollick and Patricia Bracewell.
Both are shining their light on Emma of Normandy - from different viewpoints.

* * * * *

Helen Hollick


    Helen lives on a thirteen-acre farm in Devon, England. Born in London, Helen wrote pony stories as a teenager, moved to science-fiction and fantasy, and then discovered historical fiction.
    Published for over twenty years with her Arthurian Trilogy, and the 1066 era, she became a ‘USA Today’ bestseller with Forever Queen. She also writes the Sea Witch Voyages, pirate-based fantasy adventures.
    As a supporter of Indie Authors she is Managing Editor for the Historical Novel Society Indie Reviews, and inaugurated the HNS Indie Award.

Helen’s view of Emma… 


A woman married at the age of thirteen to a man she despised; when he died the only way to survive and retain her status was to marry the man who had been her enemy.


Forever Queen (US Edition Title) 
A Hollow Crown (UK Edition Title) 





More fascinating insight on Helen's own Blog:
* * * * *


 On to

Patricia Bracewell,  and her EMMA.


Patricia taught high school English before pursuing a writing career. The Price of Blood, is the second book in her trilogy about the 11th century queen of England, Emma of Normandy. Her first book, Shadow on the Crown, has been published in the UK, Australia, Italy, Germany, Russia and Brazil as well as in the U.S and Canada. She continues to travel extensively for research, and in the fall of 2014 she served as Writer-in-Residence at Gladstone’s Library, Wales. She is currently at work on the final novel of her Emma of Normandy trilogy. She lives in Oakland, California.

 


Meet Patricia's Emma
  in               

The Price of Blood 

    Emma of Normandy lived in an age ruled by the sword – an age when even women’s hearts had to be forged from steel.
    Warrior’s daughter, bride of kings, mother and peace-weaver, she was England’s only twice-crowned queen whose strength of spirit would bind the wounds of a shattered kingdom.





Find out more on Pat's own Blog
PatriciaBracewell - ShiningLightOnOurLadies

* * * * *
For the next three October Tuesdays, more Shining Ladies!
For one, the man she most despises is the man who owns her heart.
For another, a district nurse must cope with the tragedies of World War II,
and another faces the horrors and tragedies of the American Civil War.

I can't wait to read about all of our Shining Ladies.
 Come back and join us!

PLEASE TWEET: 
#LightOnOurLadies

The Full Shining Light Tour - Check it Out!


  6th October:  Helen_Hollick (Queen Emma) with Pat  Bracewell and 
Inge H. Borg

13th October:  Helen_Hollick (Women of 1066) with Elizabeth Revill
Diana Wilder and Regina Jeffers


20th October:  Helen_Hollick (King Arthur’s women) paired with
Alison Morton and Sophie Perinot

27th October:  Helen_Hollick - the Sea Witch women with
Anna Belfrage and Linda Collison


If you are liable to forget, just bookmark this blog
and come back to check for the Tuesday dates and our The Shining Ladies.