Kelmarsh – my favourite Festival of History
Posted on Thursday, May 3rd, 2012
My favourite time of year is fast approaching – mid-July. You might think that’s because the paperback of King’s Man is coming out then (July 5th) or because Warlord (Book 4 of the Outlaw Chronicles) is published that month too (July 19th) – and you’d be partially right – but I’m also pretty damn excited about going to The Festival of History at Kelmarsh Hall, in Northhamptonshire, on Saturday July 14th.
I’m on a panel at 11.40am chaired by Robyn Young with two other historical novelists talking about Heroes from History. I’m going to be talking about Richard the Lionheart, who is a major character in three of my novels, and I think is one of the most fascinating characters in the medieval world. I’ll be doing a full blog about him shortly, as a sort of warm-up for my speech at Kelmarsh, so I won’t say anything more about the man just now.
But even if you don’t want to hear me droning on about the Lionheart, I urge you to come to Kelmarsh anyway – it is a wonderful festival for anyone who is even the slightest bit interested in history. Thousands of re-enactors turn up in authentic dress and put on dramatic shows from time periods ranging from the Romans to the Second World War. Last year I wandered round a terrific reconstruction of a WW1 trench with actors playing the part of the Tommies. If you like the English Civil War, there are usually a few Sealed Knot types doing reconstructions of the great battles of the 17th century. This year, I know that a gang of hardcore Norman knights are going to be doing their thing at Kelmarsh. There is something for everyone, no matter which is your preferred era.
But I like it mostly because it is one great big party for history buffs. So come along, hear me talk, buy a copy of Warlord and get me to sign it, have a couple of beers and watch a dramatic reconstruction of a long-ago battle. That’s pretty much my idea of heaven!
Mocked by new technology once again
Posted on Thursday, April 26th, 2012
Hi everyone,
Sorry I’ve been so slack at blogging recently but the new baby and books 4 and 5 have been keeping me really busy. Anyway, I have a little news to impart to you today. I can’t swear to this, and it might not work, and all sorts of things could go wrong, but it looks as if my American readers can actually download a Kindle version of King’s Man in the USA. Here’s the link: http://amzn.to/IexfYI
Ever since King’s Man came out as a hardback in the UK – July 2011 – I have been getting messages from across the pond asking when the third book would be available as an e-book over there. I’ve been replying apologetically and saying that it wasn’t available as a Kindle or whatever and wouldn’t be available until the American version of King’s Man came out in November 2012. It turns out that I may have been wrong; both the English and the US versions of King’s Man are listed on Amazon.com – and I guess elsewhere. And while the US version isn’t available, the English one is. So if you can put up with me spelling colour, honour and favour with a U and woollen with two Ls, you can download my third book and get stuck in. My apologies, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. (By the way, if the download doesn’t work, can someone let me know, pronto!)
I must confess I’m an idiot about new technology – yes, I Tweet, I occasionally blog, I have a Facebook page and all that – but I have a very uneasy relationship with all things electronic. Let me tell you a little story: about ten years ago I found myself in Afghanistan working as a freelance reporter covering the Battle of Tora Bora. It was December 2001; Osama bin Laden was hiding in deep caves in the Tora Bora mountains and we, and the local troops of Northern Alliance, were trying to find the bastard. There was a lot of confused fighting in some very tough terrain – and, to be honest, it was exhausting and scary as hell. Every day I would drive four hours up to the battlefield, run around trying to find out what was happening, dodge the occasional bullet and mortar round, and then come back to a half-built hotel in Jalallabad and file a story for an English newspaper. In case you think that was luxurious, my room was a concrete box with no windows, and I slept on the floor with an arctic wind whistling through the place and nothing between me and the concrete except a thin sleeping bag. I didn’t do much sleeping anyway – I was wired up on adrenaline, burning all sorts of mental reserves all day and most of the night, and here’s the thing: every time I touched a laptop, it made a fizzing noise and died on me. I killed my own laptop, just by touching it, and a friend’s who lent me his, too. I don’t know the physics of this, or the medical side either, but I do know that the human body contains electricity – and I think in my hyped-up, war-zone-wired state I must have been fizzing with it. I think that I was short-circuting the laptops. Might be wrong but none of my collegues would let me use their machines in case I was right. So instead of emailing the paper, I had to dictate my stories to the news desk in London over a satellite phone – ad libbed, off the top of my head. And that is quite hard, believe me.
So I didn’t produce my finest written work in Afghanistan, but on the other hand I didn’t come home in a bodybag. So that’s OK. However, it did give me a deep distrust of technology, and though I’m typing this on my big old iMac at home right now. I still have a sneeking fear that my machine will blow up before I get to post this blog. Better post now, just to be sure . . .
Dates for your diaries: summer 2012
Posted on Thursday, April 12th, 2012
Hi y’all
I’ve just been sorting out my diary for this summer and I’m already finding it surprisingly full. It’s mostly filled with research trips and family stuff but I’m surprised it’s so unusually chocka because I had deliberately decided that I wouldn’t do loads of publicity for the Outlaw Chronicles this year. Last year was manic-busy with me running around the country visiting medieval festivals, selling books and meeting readers all summer, and while it was loads of fun, it proved to be rather expensive and time-consuming, too. But, most importantly, I found it really hard to get back into the mental word-zone at my desk between weekend publicity jamborees.
So this year I told myself that I’d concentrate on the writing – which is, after all, my real job – and only do the minimum of marketing. If the books are good enough, they will sell themselves, right? Hmm, well maybe, but anyway I’m still not doing much book-flogging this year, what with the new baby an’ all, but there ARE a few events that I’m going to attend if you want to swing by, say hello and get a book or two signed.
These are:
June 16th: Talk at the Norfolk branch of The Richard III Society. Yes, that’s right, the Richard the Third Society (tho’ I’m going to be talking about Richard the Lionheart). Contact the secretary at annmarie@talktalk.net if you want to attend.
July 14th: Kelmarsh Hall, Festival of History, Northhamptonshire – I’m on a historical novelists’ panel talking about heroes (Richard I again) with Robyn Young and James Aicheson.
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/events/foh-2012/
September 29th: Historical Novelists’ Society Conference in Greenwich, London. http://www.hns-conference.org.uk/ I’m on panel with Bernard Cornwall in the morning, talking about combat in the age of the blade, and another panel on boys’ versus girls’ historical fiction in the afternoon. Will be signing books in two sessions morning and afternoon.
I’m also supposed to be doing a local book signing, probably in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, probably in late July – but that has yet to be confirmed.
I’ll add any more dates/events to the list if they materialize. Now I’ve got to get back to my real job!
P.S. I nearly forgot to mention the two most important dates for your diaries: July 5th, King’s Man comes out in paperback; and July 19th Warlord is published in hardback. Bye for now.
In your local bookshop: King’s Man & Warlord
Posted on Monday, March 26th, 2012
As you may already know, last year my publisher wisely decided that the Outlaw Chronicles should be available henceforth as hardbacks – and so in July 2011 my first UK hardback – King’s Man – came out. And this July (2012), the paperback version is being published, and that’s how it’s going to go from now on, the hardback preceding the paperback by a year, and two of my books coming out in the UK each summer.
Just to make that clear, this summer will see the publication of King’s Man (paperback) on July 5th; and Warlord (hardback) on July 19th – and just so that you will know what to look for, here are the two covers. Enjoy!
Paperback version of King's Man
And here is Warlord . . .
Hardback version of Book 4
Very un-PC and nothing to do with Robin Hood
Posted on Monday, March 5th, 2012
OK, sorry about this but I got sent this as an email and it made me smile on a raw March day. Hope you enjoy it: it has nothing to do with Robin Hood or my books or anything really. Just a little un-PC amusement. Don’t take it too seriously, and don’t give me any grief about it if you are Italian, German, French or Australian or whatever.It’s a joke, OK?ALERTS TO THREATS IN EUROPEThe English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent events in the
Middle East and have therefore raised their security level from “Miffed” to “Peeved.” Soon,
though, security levels may be raised yet again to “Irritated” or even “A
Bit Cross.” The English have not been “A Bit Cross” since the Blitz in 1940
when tea supplies nearly ran out. Terrorists have been re-categorized from
“Tiresome” to “A Bloody Nuisance.” The last time the British issued a
“Bloody Nuisance” warning level was in 1588, when threatened by the Spanish
Armada.The Scots have raised their threat level from “Pissed Off” to “Let’s get
the Bastards.” They don’t have any other levels. This is the reason they
have been used on the front line of the British Army for the past 300 years.The French government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror
alert level from “Run” to “Hide”. The only two higher levels in France are
“Collaborate” and “Surrender.” The rise was precipitated by a recent fire
that destroyed France’s white flag factory, effectively paralyzing the
country’s military capability.Italy has increased the alert level from “Shout Loudly and Excitedly” to
“Elaborate Military Posturing.” Two more levels remain: “Ineffective Combat
Operations” and “Change Sides”. The Germans have increased their alert
state from “Disdainful Arrogance” to “Dress in Uniform and Sing Marching
Songs.” They also have two higher levels: “Invade a Neighbour” and “Lose”.Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual; the only threat
they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels.The Spanish are all excited to see their new submarines ready to deploy.
These beautifully designed subs have glass bottoms so the new Spanish navy
can get a really good look at the old Spanish navy.Australia, meanwhile, has raised its security level from “No worries” to
“She’ll be right, mate”. Two more escalation levels remain: “Crikey! I
think we’ll need to cancel the barbie this weekend!” and “The barbie is
canceled.” So far no situation has ever warranted use of the final
escalation level.A final thought – “Greece is collapsing, the Iranians are getting
aggressive, and Rome is in disarray. Welcome back to 430 BC!”