Greyhounds and Fetterlocks

Latest News

2012-01-07T15:21:00.000Z

Not much, but just to remind anyone interested that my Alianore Audley short will appear in the next edition of the Ricardian Bulletin, the journal of the Richard III Society. Probably just about time to join if you want a copy.

Also I have set up a temporary website at https://sites.google.com/site/brianwainwrightnovels/

Nothing much to look at, and I hope eventually to replace it with something better, but for now it's better than nowt. I have listed my future projects on it so you can all set up books on which, if any, will be the first to appear...

Maybe it's just me...

2011-12-04T17:08:00.001Z

OK, I am not going to name the book or the author. The only slight clue I'll give is it was set in the early 19th Century among the upper classes and it wasn't written by Jane Austen.

Yet again, a complete lack of understanding of titles and forms of address stood out. However, I'll pass lightly over this as I don't want to seem more obsessive than I am in reality, and I know that for a lot of people this just flies over their head anyway and doesn't spoil their enjoyment.

This week's moan is about inappropriate (for the time) social attitudes. For starters we have a gentlemen (a lord actually, although naturally he's too cool to use his title) on first name terms with his valet. Hmm, yeah, right...

But then all the main characters are so incredibly Left wing and PC that it screamed at me. I almost expected them to stand up after dinner (just before the ladies withdrew) and sing the Internationale. I mean, come on, this is early 19th Century England! There were not many Left wing PC types among the peerage and landed gentry at this time. Even reformers (Radicals) were in a distinct minority. Surely it's the art of the typical that convinces? If there'd been one, just one, fat-bellied Tory repressive among them I could have lived with it. But there wasn't even a hint of the typical social attitudes of the day.

When we talk about accuracy, it isn't just a matter of getting the belt buckles right, or what they had for dinner, or the correct name for the Bishop of Bath and Wells in September 1693. Surely, surely there has to be some attempt to reflect how the people of the times actually thought and behaved in relation to one another? And this is where it's hard - because by and large they did not think like us. Indeed, many of them did and said (by our standards) shameful things. But it's no use pretending that by some amazing chance the characters we choose to write about were all 21st Century people of correct opinions who happened to be born a few centuries earlier. Because they weren't.

Purchase Page

2011-11-27T12:14:00.001Z

This page is intended as a convenient starting point for anyone who wants to buy my books:

Bewrite Books

The Adventures of Alianore Audley

Amazon UK

The Open Fetterlock (Available in Kindle only. Just extracts, not a full story.)

The Adventures of Alianore Audley

Within the Fetterlock

Amazon.com

The Open Fetterlock

The Adventures of Alianore Audley

Within the Fetterlock

On a more positive note...

2011-11-03T14:54:00.000Z

My Alianore Audley short story should appear in the Ricardian Bulletin in March 2012.

I gather there will be another fictional piece in the December issue also. By Rosemary Hawley Jarman.

A masterclass on titles...a pedant writes

2011-11-03T14:44:00.000Z

Today I visited a library, and picked up a book by an author who had better remain anonymous. Anyway, I dipped in, like you do, and found that the main character was unable to describe herself properly. She literally did not know her own name, or to be more accurate, title. This annoyed me, especially as the novel was written in the first person, which makes it feel even dafter.

Anyway, we all have to learn, and for the benefit of my writer friends who are not as pedantic as me I thought I would set out the relevant rules for English titles, as from (roughly) the fifteenth century. In fairness, I admit things were in a state of evolution, especially in the earlier years of the century, and you might find exceptions out there.

First, and as a general point, please be aware that there has been a lot of title inflation over the years. Through most of the middle ages an earl was a very great lord indeed, especially in the earlier centuries, so if you're inventing a character you might be better sticking at knight level. There were no dukes at all until the fourteenth century and the first non-royal dukes appeared in 1398.

Similarly the title 'Prince' originally only applied to the Prince of Wales, and the random use of Prince and Princess as titles for the king's children really only took off under Henry VIII. You may find that dukes and duchesses are sometimes referred to as 'princes' or 'princesses' as were royal children, but this was not their formal title in the middle ages. It was more a reference to their status. To give an example close to home, Lady Constance of York was certainly a princess, but she was never known as Princess Constance of York, and still less as HRH. The HRH thing is, I think, 18th century, certainly post-medieval.

Second, medieval women always kept their highest title. So if a woman married the Duke of Norfolk, she remained the Duchess of Norfolk, even if she subsequently married Lord Bloggs or Mr Smith. She did not start calling herself Lady Bloggs or Mrs. Smith. This may seem odd to us, but in those days she also kept her precedence and the use of her title helped with this!

Thirdly, the use of female Christian names in titles was (and is) very particular. If Jane Smith marries Sir Fred Bloggs (or Lord Bloggs) she becomes Lady Bloggs. If she's widowed she might refer to herself as Jane, Lady Bloggs. But she can only be Lady Jane Bloggs if she is the daughter of an earl, marquis or duke. In this case on marriage she changes from Lady Jane Smith to Lady Jane Bloggs. Indeed, she's Lady Jane Bloggs even if her husband is Mr.Joe Bloggs, and there's a fifteenth century example for this - if you want to know, Lady Anne Paston, wife of Mr William Paston and daughter of the Duke of Somerset.

This may seem very picky, but in the middle ages a married woman retained her father's rank (in terms of precedence) if her husband's rank was lower. So between two knights' wives, Lady Joan Bucket always outranks Lady Bouquet.

However if a woman marries an earl marquis or duke, then irrespective of her birth she is known as the Countess of Whatever (or Lady Whatever) the Marchioness of Whatever or the Duchess of Whatever. Presumably because if she was known as Lady Mary Whatever she might be confused with her own daughter!

Complex isn't it?

Oh, and the daughters of barons and knights were not 'Lady Jane Whatever' - they were 'Mistress Whatever or Mistress Jane Whatever.'

A lot of this stuff can be picked up by reading Debrett's as long as you remember to scrape off the Tudor and subsequent accretions. Either way, dear authors, please do make the effort as failure may lead to your book being thrown at the wall, and to at least one of your readers tearing his hair out.

Oh, and another thing, if you want to produce a facsimile of a medieval letter, please do try to discover what a medieval letter looked like. The Paston Letters are a good place to start and don't need much research to find. You can modernise the spelling all you like, I'm all for translation, but please try to keep the feel, the flavour of the era you are supposedly writing about, unless you are actually intending to write a parody. Yes I like parody too, but only if the author began with one in mind.

RANT OVER!!! You may now proceed with your lives.

Poetry Corner - Lack of Steadfastness

2011-08-12T16:36:00.000+01:00

It is tempting, the way things are, to write a sort of party political broadcast. However, I shall spare you that, and instead quote the gentle Geoffrey Chaucer, as translated into modern English by A. S. Kline:

Once this world was so steadfast and so stable

That a man’s word was his obligation,

And now it is so false and mutable,

That word and deed, in their conclusion,

Are unalike, for so turned upside down

Is all this world, by gain and selfishness,

That all is lost for lack of steadfastness.

What makes this world of ours so variable

But the pleasure folk take in dissension?

Amongst us now a man is thought unable,

Unless he can, by some vile collusion,

Wrong his neighbour, or wreak his oppression.

What causes this but such wilful baseness,

That all is lost for lack of steadfastness?

Truth is put down: reason is held a fable;

Virtue has now no domination,

Pity is exiled, no man is merciful.

Through greed men blind discretion;

The world has made such a permutation

Of right to wrong, truth to fickleness,

That all is lose for lack of steadfastness.

Envoy (to King Richard II)
O Prince, desire to be honourable,

Cherish your folk, and hate extortion!

Order that nothing which may prove shameful

To your office, be done in your kingdom.

Show openly your sword of castigation,

Dread God: seek law, love truth and worthiness,

And wed your folk again to steadfastness.

This work may be freely reproduced, stored, and transmitted, electronically or otherwise, for any non-commercial purpose.

The Open Fetterlock

2011-07-17T11:23:00.000+01:00

Following a suggestion from Joan Szechtman and with her help with the formating, I have put together a Kindle 'book' of my unpublished writings. It's called The Open Fetterlock and should be available from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk within the next few days. The price will be 99c in the USA and 75p in the UK.

I should tell you that there are no complete stories in there - these are tasters, or, if you like, scraps from my cutting-room floor. However they will at least prove that I have done something these last few years, including a couple of attempts at the Richard III novel.

Novels about the Middle Ages you should read - number 2

2011-07-02T13:41:00.001+01:00

For reasons best known to Google, I am still unable to comment on my own entries, though I can post. What strange world of logic permits this is beyond me, but if I don't respond to comments please don't think me ignorant - it's just that (for whatever reason) I can't.

My second suggestion in this series is London Bridge is Falling by Philip Lindsay. Lindsay is a much neglected author these days - the novel was published in 1934 - and his output was variable. Some of his novels are a tad melodramatic for my taste, while his biographies of Henry V and Richard III are a little to the right of hagiographic.

In his long dedication, Lindsay admits that he cut the novel down from something much bigger and says that it is more of a 'street scene' than a novel. However, as it runs to 448 pages it is scarcely a short story.

The plot revolves around the people living on London Bridge in 1450, and how, ultimately they are impacted upon by Cade's rebellion. For several, it brings death.

You will care for some of the characters; others you will strongly dislike. However, as a novel of life in medieval London, with all its contrasts of wealth and squalour, London Bridge is Falling is hard to beat.

Blogger playing tricks

2011-06-29T09:52:00.002+01:00

Although I can post this post, for some reason Blogger is not allowing me to comment on my own posts. No idea why not, but presumably a bug.

Novels about the Middle Ages you should read - number 1

2011-06-26T17:15:00.001+01:00

I have decided to write up a short series of recommendations for medieval novels. The qualification to get in is hard - first, they must pass all my personal tests of acceptability (and I am Mr. Picky), second they must be relatively obscure, which means that the works of people like Sharon K. Penman, Elizabeth Chadwick and Anya Seton do not qualify. Not because of any disrespect for these authors - the absolute converse is true - but because if you don't already know about their works then you jolly well should.

First in the series is In a Dark Wood Wandering by Hella Haasse.

The novel is about Charles, Duke of Orleans, and starts with his birth in the late 14th Century and continues to his death in the middle 15th. It's a long book, and the reader needs stamina, but the effort is worth it. You should be aware that Charles spends 25 years as a prisoner in England, so if you're looking for lots of battle action, or even lots of romantic action you may well be disappointed. It's not that sort of novel. However there's tons of politics, tons of intrigue. You may also find Charles, as a person, rather cold and emotionally detached. I'd submit that with the kind of life he had to endure, this is probably a realistic appraisal of his character.

Not a book to cheer you up or set you laughing, but a wonderful tale of human endurance.

(Yes, I know I've reviewed this book before, but it was a 'must' for this series.)

The Daisy and The Bear

2011-05-25T12:17:00.005+01:00

Just a brief mention of a new novel by Karen L Clark, The Daisy and the Bear.

This is a wonderful story of the Wars of the Roses, concerning Richard Neville Earl of Warwick and his true lurve. It'd be a shame to tell you who that is at it would completely spoil the plot and your enjoyment. This is a light-hearted tale, not to be taken too seriously, that seriously rips the pee out of bad historical novels. Indeed one particular author - whose name I shall not mention, but it rhymes with Dilippa Regory - has her interpretation of Elizabeth Woodville/Wydeville/however you spell it - rather delightfully parodied.

If you enjoyed Alianore Audley you will likely have the sense of humour that this book requires. (And if you haven't read Alianore Audley please buy that too, as I need the money. In fact, buy several copies for your friends.)

The ISBN for The Daisy and the Bear is 5-800056-222853. Further details may well be found on Karen's excellent website

Honesty and the reviewer's code compel me to reveal that I won this book in a Facebook competition, but I wouldn't have minded buying it. Honest.

By the way, the Blogger formatting isn't working properly today, so if this post looks odd, that's why. I'm not drunk or on non-prescribed drugs. Indeed I'm as sober as a particularly boring judge.

Saving Money at Christmas

2010-11-24T10:34:00.002Z

Not long ago I saw a tinplate box in a shop - an empty tinplate box. It was intended for storing cupcakes and the price was £20. Now, I know the pound ain't worth too much these days, just a bit ahead of the Confederate Dollar in fact, but £20 for an empty box seems a bit steep.

So here's my money-saving tip for 2010, offered free of charge. Visit your local friendly supermarket and buy a large tin of biscuits. Cost, £10 tops, maybe only £6 with special offers and so on. Eat the biscuits. You will be left with an ideal tin for storing your cupcakes in; albeit it won't have pretty pictures of cupcakes on it, in fact it will quite likely have pictures of biscuits, but for heaven's sake it's only for storage. You aren't going to serve your honoured guests out of the tin are you? That would be frightfully common!

Anyway I reckon that saves at least £10, maybe £14 and you get a load of free biscuits too!

'Cupcakes' is an Americanism. When I was a lad (and that's a long while back now) my mother made the things every week and called them 'buns'. Sometimes we'd go to Belle Vue Zoo and feed some to the elephants. You're not allowed to do that now as apparently cupcakes are bad for the elephant's digestion. Which makes you think. If an elephant can't digest a cupcake, how on earth are we supposed to do it?

By the way, I hear that cake stands are going for big money right now. Because cupcakes are all the rage and people want cake stands to put them on. Funny old world. Whatever next? Fish knives to become fashion items?

Pickled Onions

2010-11-10T12:30:00.004Z

Do people outside the north of England still pickle their own onions? Honest question, I don't know.

The pickling season starts round about October when suitable onions are sold in supermarkets and certain garden centres. There is, of course, nothing to stop you making use of your own onions or shallots, the only key requirement is that they be relatively small, as they have to fit in jars.

Peeling them takes ages. It's a horrid, tedious task and, be warned, leaves a strong smell of onions on your hands. If this worries you, wear gloves. Top and tail the little onions and remove their outer skin. If the first layer is wrinkled or displeasing to the eye, strip it off and discard.

Next, soak them in brine for at least 24 hours. This is to make them crunchy. Apparently you can just put them in salt, but it would take an awful lot of salt to cover the batches we do. So brine is probably easier.

Now, put them in jars. Any old jars will do. Of course if you are posh you will have bought special jars for the purpose. But you don't need to. It does help though if the jar has a lid that can be sealed. (If it doesn't, use grease-proof paper and an elastic band to seal the jar. Not ideal but it will work.) Squeeze as many pickles as you can into each jar.

Next, pour in pickling vinegar. The special vinegar is best, but you can use ordinary malt vinegar instead and add spices to taste. If you like your pickles sweet (ugh!) add sugar. Make sure all the pickles are covered by the vinegar.

Leave in a cool place for at least three months. You might get away with opening them a little earlier, but they will be immature. I prefer to leave them for six months. Even twelve months at a pinch, but there is then an increasing risk that the pickles will go soft and taste horrible. I'm sure there's a scientific reason for this but I have no idea what it is.

A nice mature pickle should beat any shop-bought pickle into a cocked hat. It's the equivalent of real ale against fizzy 'keg' beer. Nothing is better sliced onto a cold beef sandwich, or as part of a ploughman's lunch. You can even eat them on their own if you've got the taste for them. Mmmmm!

A word of warning - the unsliced pickles are probably best kept away from small children as there may well be a choking risk. Better safe than sorry.

The Greatest Knight

2010-10-21T15:25:00.003+01:00

The Greatest Knight by Elizabeth Chadwick

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Simply one of the best historical novels I have ever read.

Just enjoyed it for the second time of reading, and it is every bit as good as I thought it was. Elizabeth Chadwick goes from strength to strength. Has she reached her best yet? Only time will tell, but the standard she sets is very high indeed.

View all my reviews

The Sheen on the Silk

2010-10-05T10:33:00.004+01:00

The Sheen on the Silk: A Novel by Anne Perry

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I found this quite a challenging read. This is partly because what I know about Byzantium can be written on a postage stamp, but this is certainly not a novel you can read with half your mind on TV or what you're having for dinner. Such inattention will leave you lost and having to go back to find out who this character is and what their motives might be.

Anna Zarides, a doctor, arrives in Constantinople in disguise as a eunuch, trying to establish the innocence of her brother, who has been banished to a remote monastry. Well, I thought, that's not very likely is it? She'll never get away with that! And she doesn't, because one character after another works out what she is and you wonder when and by whom she will be betrayed.

Set against a background of a threatened crusade against the city, and an attempt to avert this by an unpopular submission to Rome, the story is full of complex intrigue. If you like action, as such, you may find it rather boring as much of the book is devoted to Anna picking up patients and making discreet enquiries.

I thought it was worth the effort in the end, but this is not a book that will appeal to all.

View all my reviews

Eternity beckons

2010-09-11T12:27:00.003+01:00

While I was in Llandudno the other day I was asked where I was going to spend eternity. The lady who asked me the question came from Eccles originally, but lives in North Wales now, apparently spending much of her time distributing religious leaflets to random strangers.

The circumstances were a bit odd. I was sitting on my wife's disability scooter while she toured a shop, and I was just quietly minding my own business and watching the world go by. Consequently the lady sneaked up on the blind side and there was no getting away.

She was quite a nice woman though and even with the Black Dog sitting on me I am far too much of a gentleman to tell nice old ladies to **** off. The leaflet was short and to the point and it confirmed my long held suspicion that to get into heaven one has only to accept Jesus. I did that quite a bit ago and it appears no further action is necessary as it's all down to God's Grace and nothing to do with what we actually do. It's always pleasant to have one's opinions confirmed in writing though. (That's why stupid, bigoted newspapers sell more than the intelligent ones.)

I can recommend Llandudno's main shopping street as a locus. The last time I was there I got addressed by a lamp post, this time by a former resident of Eccles acting as an agent for Jesus. Next time perhaps someone will try to sell me a copy of Socialist Worker. I can hardly wait to find out.

Progress Report, August 2010

2010-08-05T13:52:00.002+01:00

Still hoping to complete the MS by end of this year, though it will be a push. It will be nothing like what was originally planned, but it will still be a serious novel around Richard III. I have not got a title. I am no longer happy with either of the previous working titles and so will have to come up with something else. The present title in the heading is 'Richard Novel' and I don't think that will cut the mustard, although it is to the point.

During the process I have produced a whole pile of 'rejected' stuff, some of which I am quite pleased with but simply doesn't fit into the present scheme. This will probably form the basis of a second book in due course. For the purpose of reference I am calling this 'Norfolk Novel'. It is likely to be quite light-hearted but not as way out as Alianore Audley. That is to say it won't have any deliberate anachronisms in it and it will be a straight piece of HF, albeit light-hearted.

The third main project for about a chapter has been written is my Richard the Second and Anne of Bohemia thing which I have been promising to do for some time. Working title - This New Spring of Time.

I have pretty well scrubbed round everything else, despite the attractions of Urraca of Zamora and Sir Thomas Fairfax. Although both intrigue me as characters, it is unlikely I have enough life left to do the research necessary to write what I should like to write about them.

So, after TNSoT I shall almost certainly retire from novel writing for good and focus on critting and making models of obscure pre 1914 railway wagons in 7mm/ft. scale.

Wolf Hall

2010-06-21T12:16:00.003+01:00

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book proved to me - much to my surprise - that it is possible to write a historical novel in the present tense without it becoming unreadable. The quality of the writing probably had something to do with it, but after struggling a little bit at the start I was drawn in.

Thomas Cromwell may seem an unlikely hero. He's almost invariably the deep-dyed villain of any novel in the era so it's a pleasant change to see things from his POV and he comes across as a very sympathetic character. In fact he seems to go out of his way to accommodate people. Thomas More, for example, gets thrown lifeline after lifeline, which of course he rejects.

It is sometimes just a little hard to work out who is speaking. There's a lot of conversation in this, and the author likes her personal pronouns. 'He' is however, not always Thomas Cromwell in these exchanges.

One oddity - it's stated that Elizabeth Woodville gave Edward IV a (remote) claim to Castile. News to me. It may be true, but if so it was vastly inferior to his own claim, which he made in heraldry from the start of his reign. (See the Edward IV Roll for proof). La Woodville had many qualities, but claims to thrones was not one of 'em.

This apart no historical issues jumped out of me, and the author juggled a very large cast of characters with great success. Having said all that, I still don't like present tense for HF and beg and plead with all authors out there to refuse to use it!!!

I do recommend the book, and I don't think it's a hard read. In fact, if it's classed as a literary novel, which it seems to be, it's a lot more accessible than most of that genre.

View all my reviews >>

Not how the Despensers lived

2010-06-14T14:15:00.003+01:00

Sometimes one finds something on the internet that's so amazing it just has to be shared. One such is this: Folklore Essay

It's certainly news to me that Humphrey Duke of Gloucester was murdered by Henry V.

I'm also a bit puzzled as to how a man born in 1390 could have a son also born in 1390. I know they started early in the middle ages, but that is going some.

A pain-free way of rasing money for charity

2010-05-30T18:47:00.002+01:00

Some of you may know of this already but I am recommending it because it's a new discovery for me: Easyfundraising

You register with the site and pick your charity. I have picked Tia Greyhound and Lurcher Rescue
but there's a wide range to choose from and you can even register a new one.

Now, when you want to buy something online - and again there's a massive list of choices including Amazon, Tesco Direct, Waterstones, P. C. World, etc., etc., - you go through the Easyfundraising site. Then a small percentage (it varies) of what you pay for your purchase goes to your chosen charity. There's no cost to you.

Potentially this could give your charity a lot of money over the year without costing you a bean. Great idea, I thought.

Injured Greyhound Lucy Lu Needs Your Help

2010-05-17T18:55:00.002+01:00

I am sick, absolutely sick, of excuses for humanity who abuse greyhounds.

That was a hard sentence to write, because the temptation to add numerous expletives was overwhelming. But it wouldn't have done any good.

The greyhound in question, a beautiful two-year-old bitch was so badly beaten that she has had to have months of expensive veterinary care. And the good people who are looking after her have to go on Ebay to try to raise funds for the cost.

If you want to read more go into Ebay UK and search on Injured Greyhound Lucy Lu Needs Your Help or go to item http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270580287199&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

If you can bung a fiver into the pot, so much the better. But it shouldn't be necessary, it really shouldn't. The 'people' who caused this suffering should be made to pay, and in an ideal world they should also be chucked in jail for a very long time. Alas, even if they're caught it'll be the usual case of a ten bob fine and 'don't do it again'.

Civilised society? I think not.

The Pendle Witches

2010-04-11T14:23:00.004+01:00

I am delighted to see that a new novel has been published on the Pendle Witches, Daughters of the Witching Hill by Mary Sharratt. As someone who has long been interested in the subject I look forward to reading this version of the story.

The classic novel on the subject (The Sunne in Splendour of Pendle Hill) is Mist Over Pendle by Robert Neill, which is now rather long in the tooth. But it has sold lots of copies and is still worth a look if you're interested.

For factual background my tip is The Lancashire Witchcraze by Jonathan Lumby. It was this account that made me realise just how much of Neill's novel is fictional!

The context of Lancashire in the 17th century is worth remembering. For a start, the population was about one third Catholic, unexceptional in our more tolerant times but seen as a potential threat to the state in the 1600s. Robert Neill's heroes are always moderates in politics and religion and Roger Nowell of Read the investigating magistrate in Mist Over Pendle is a middle-of-the-road Anglican, not particularly devout and, if anything, on better terms with his Catholic neighbours than with the Puritan ones. In reality Nowell was definitely at the Puritan end of the religious spectrum; several of his relatives were Calvinist divines with a national reputation.

In addition, Nowell had a great-nephew, Nicholas Starkie, whose children were allegedly possessed by demons as a result of witchcraft. In his community, the gentry of Pendle and Craven, there were several alleged cases of witchcraft, including the 'suspicious' death of Mr Thomas Lister of Westby at a wedding which Nowell attended. Moreover, the 'boss' of the County, William Stanley, Earl of Derby had had an elder brother allegedly murdered by witches.

I am sure there are natural causes for all these events. Lister's death, for example, was almost certainly the result of a heart attack or stroke. But in a world where even King James himself fervently believed in the reality of witchcraft we can scarcely be surprised if an obscure squire like Nowell was persuaded that evil was afoot in his back yard.

As to the 'witches' themselves, they were country 'healers' and 'wise-women', but undoubtedly they believed in their own powers and such was the state of the law that such beliefs and practices were dangerous. It seems likely that some of their 'incantations' were nothing more than mangled versions of Latin prayers.

There is a common misconception that witchcraft was more severely punished in the middle ages. In England at least, this is not true. It was under Elizabeth I and James I that the statutes were tightened to their most severe level, with death as the usual penalty.

Nowell and his fellow magistrates subjected the accused to question and answer sessions. These were not recorded verbatim, and probably not contemporaneously. In effect, Nowell could write down his interpretation of what had been said. For example one woman rode to a meeting on a pony, but in the evidence this animal became a familiar spirit!

It is not necessary to see Nowell as a wicked man by the standards of his time - like some detectives of the 1960s, he 'knew' the accused were guilty, and so provided the necessary 'evidence' to ensure they were convicted. (Despite the rather dodgy standards of justice in these times it was by no means unknown for an alleged witch to be acquitted by a jury.) Nowell probably thought he was doing his public duty by ensuring there were no loose ends.

One of Nowell's witnesses was a nine-year-old girl, another a youth with what we would now politely call 'learning difficulties.' This, with the written 'confessions' Nowell had created from the interviews was quite enough to ensure that all the accused were hanged, most at Lancaster, one at York.

The Glory Of Chicken Curry

2010-04-10T15:06:00.003+01:00

Here is a recipe for Chicken Rogan Josh you may like to try. I have added my own refinements to the basic dish and the product is lip-smackingly good, though I say so myself. If you don't like chicken you can substitute lamb fillet and I dare say it would work with beef or pork as well though I haven't tried these so they're on your own head.

Ingredients - should serve four easily, may stretch to six.

About 900 grams chicken breast/pieces.
1 decent-sized onion, finely chopped.
250 ml natural yoghurt - plain.
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt.
4 garlic cloves (crushed).
1" piece of fresh ginger. (Use a bit more if you like.)
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
Half teaspoon cumin seeds. (You can use a bit more if you want.)
3 bay leaves.
4 green cardamom pods.
2 teaspoons ground coriander.
2 teaspoons ground cumin.
1 or 2 teaspoons of ground turmeric. (This is mainly to improve the colour.)
1 teaspoon fenugreek. (Reduce or omit if you dislike fenugreek.)
1 teaspoon cinnamon.
1 teaspoon hot chilli powder OR 1 red chilli pepper sliced. (The latter makes it hotter.)
1 can (400g) chopped tomatoes
2 tablespoons tomato puree
About two thirds a cup of water.
Plain boiled rice - or basmati if you prefer
Optional extras - small tin of baked beans or chickpeas; sliced mushrooms; 1 sliced pepper.

Method.

1. The night before - mix the yoghurt, salt, two garlic cloves, and the ginger which you should grate. Stir in the chicken - or other meat. Leave in fridge until ready for preparation.

2. Slice your onion and add the remaining garlic. Extract the contents of the cardamon pods, set aside and discard husks.

3. Heat the oil in a large pan until hot enough for frying then add cumin seeds. When they start to splutter add the bay leaves and the contents of the cardamom pods and fry for 2 minutes.

4. Add the onion and garlic and fry for about 4-5 minutes. Then add turmeric, fenugreek, coriander, cumin, chilli powder (or sliced chilli - preferred by me) and cinnamon. It may look pretty horrible at this point but it should smell OK. Fry for about 2 minutes.

5. Add the marinated chicken to the mixture and give it a good stir. Keep on stirring for about five minutes.

6. Add the chopped tomatoes, tomato puree and water. Also add small tin of baked beans or chickpeas; sliced mushrooms; 1 sliced pepper if you are including these extras.

7. Cover and simmer for one and a half hours. Note - do not go away and do something else. The curry needs an eye kept on it and regular stirring to prevent it from sticking and burning. If it gets too dry, add a cup or so of water.

8. Serve with rice, naans, and whatever other adjuncts you fancy.

Enjoy!

Acknowledgement - modified from an original recipe in Curries of the World by Mridula Baljekar, an excellent book which I recommend.

Book Review - In A Dark Wood Wandering by Hella S Haasse

2010-03-02T12:20:00.002Z

I have been re-reading this wonderful book lately, and it reminded me what a quality historical novel looks like. It is the story of Charles, Duke of Orleans, literally from his birth to his death. The Orleans presented here is scarcely a conventional hero at all, and has some pretty obvious character faults, and yet he's somehow endearing and fascinating as well as a real human being.

Historical accuracy is generally very good - a couple of English titles are wrong, but apart from that nothing leapt out. (There are also a few cases of what I suspect to be dodgy translation - the book was originally written in Dutch.)

It's interesting to read of Agincourt from a French point of view, and the descriptions of the extraordinary 'court' of Charles VI are quite wonderful and, I suspect, close to reality.

I cannot praise this book too highly, and if you are at all interested in reading about the fifteenth century from a French viewpoint this novel cannot be bettered.

Poetry Corner - The Inchcape Rock

2010-01-09T17:16:00.003Z

One I remember from school! Oh, and by the way 'Aberbrothok' = Arbroath, Scotland

No stir in the air, no stir in the sea,

The ship was still as she could be,

Her sails from heaven received no motion,

Her keel was steady in the ocean.

Without either sign or sound of their shock

The waves flow’d over the Inchcape Rock;

So little they rose, so little they fell,

They did not move the Inchcape Bell.

The Abbot of Aberbrothok

Had placed that bell on the Inchcape Rock;

On a buoy in the storm it floated and swung,

And over the waves its warning rung.

When the Rock was hid by the surge’s swell,

The mariners heard the warning bell;

And then they knew the perilous Rock,

And blest the Abbot of Aberbrothok.

The Sun in heaven was shining gay,

All things were joyful on that day;

The sea-birds scream’d as they wheel’d round,

And there was joyaunce in their sound.

The buoy of the Inchcape Bell was seen

A darker speck on the ocean green;

Sir Ralph the Rover walk’d his deck,

And he fix’d his eye on the darker speck.

He felt the cheering power of spring,

It made his whistle, it made him sing;

His heart was mirthful to excess,

But the Rover’s mirth was wickedness.

His eye was on the Inchcape float;

Quoth he, ‘My men, put out the boat,

And row me to the Inchcape Rock,

And I’ll plague the Abbot of Aberbrothok.’

The boat is lower’d, the boatmen row,

And to the Inchcape Rock they go;

Sir Ralph bent over from the boat,

And he cut the Bell from the Inchcape float.

Down sunk the Bell with a gurgling sound,

The bubbles rose and burst around;

Quoth Sir Ralph, ‘The next who comes to the Rock

Won't bless the Abbot of Aberbrothok.'

Sir Ralph the Rover sail’d away,

He scour’d the seas for many a day;

And now grown rich with plunder’d store,

He steers his course for Scotland’s shore.

So thick a haze o’erspreads the sky

They cannot see the Sun on high;

The wind hath blown a gale all day,

At evening it hath died away.

On the deck the Rover takes his stand,

So dark it is they see no land.

Quoth Sir Ralph, ‘It will be lighter soon,

For there is the dawn of the rising Moon.’

‘Canst hear,’ said one, ‘the breakers roar?

For methinks we should be near the shore.’

‘Now where we are I cannot tell,

But I wish I could hear the Inchcape Bell.’

They hear no sound, the swell is strong;

Though the wind hath fallen they drift along,

Till the vessel strikes with a shivering shock,―

‘Oh Christ! It is the Inchcape Rock!’

Sit Ralph the Rover tore his hair;

He curst himself in his despair;

The waves rush in on every side,

The ship is sinking beneath the tide.

But even in his dying fear

One dreadful sound could the Rover hear,

A sound as if with the Inchcape Bell,

The Devil below was ringing his knell.

Robert Southey 1802

Let it (not) snow

2010-01-08T15:53:00.003Z

OK, it's a boring topic. The TV is full of it now some snow has landed on London and the South and is no longer a regional curiousity suffered by those of us living north of Watford.

But I am freaking sick of it! Can we have an early Spring please? Pretty please!

Helping Racing Greyhounds

2009-12-05T15:32:00.003Z

If you are a UK resident or citizen please consider signing this petition to help racing greyhounds.

In principle there is nothing wrong with the sport of greyhound racing. Unfortunately, utterly selfish tossers seem to be disproportionately represented among greyhound owners and these people bring the sport and themselves into disrepute.

If you want an example of what is wrong check out this article on the Tia Greyhound Lurcher and Rescue Site.

By the way if you are looking for a good cause in which to invest your spare Christmas cash, you could do a lot worse than donate to Tia.

Hostage to Fortune Time

2009-11-19T14:07:00.003Z

I am making good progress with the Richard III novel; in fact I think the hard work is done and all I need to finish it is write the other half and edit the thing. This latter task, because of the fragmented method of working I'm experimenting with, may take some time.

Anyroad, as we say in Lancashire, I reckon the manuscript will be finished in 2010, and that is the target I'm setting myself. I'm keeping the exact target month to myself.

Next project up is likely to be my long-projected work on Richard II and Anne of Bohemia, which has the working title of This New Spring of Time. I have started research on this - you could say I started about 35 years ago - and my current bedside reading is The Westminster Chronicle. I did make a start of the writing a bit back, but that proved abortive.

Bookies are offering very short prices on guest appearances by Constance of York and her family, while Philippa Mohun will almost certainly return by public demand.

In case anyone is wondering

2009-11-09T09:46:00.004Z

what I am doing these days, given the long gap between posts...

It's OK, I'm not ill or anything, there is no domestic crisis, and the house hasn't fallen down. I'm writing, albeit not as productively as I should be, and trying to avoid temptation to start even more stories. (I don't lack for ideas, just the persistence to turn them into MSS.)

I have just submitted an article about Constance of York which will be published in The Katherine Wheel, the journal of the Katherine Swynford Society. While I was at it I gave them a second one about the fate of Richard II.

I'm also awaiting more feed-back in relation to The Arrivall, the short story that appeared in the Ricardian Bulletin. I know from the letters published in the same issue that some members are horrified by the idea of historical fiction polluting the sacred pages of their journal, so it may not all be sweetness and light! You know, it's a funny thing. I'm a member of various societies and often find some of the contributions in the publications (or even whole publications) pretty uninteresting. However I've never been moved to complain, as I appreciate that the said societies are not just run for me, but for their membership as a whole. Ah well, I suppose it wouldn't do for us all to be the same!

Do go and have a look...

2009-10-12T13:38:00.001+01:00

I urge you to visit Alianore's Edward II Blog as there is an exceptionally brilliant post on there about characters mistreated by fiction. An excellent read, as that particular blog always is.

All Quiet on The Blogging Front

2009-10-09T10:39:00.002+01:00

You may have noticed it has gone very quiet around here. That is because whatever entity it is that drains my energy has been draining it again, leaving me with very little focus. The little spare energy I have has been committed to the writing, on which slow progress is being made. T'other day I found that I'd put one piece of action in the wrong season, so I need to change things around a bit! I'm also scrabbling round for the chronology of the Fitzhugh rebellion, in which young Francis Lovel was involved.

An interesting side effect of all this is that I have I have thought of even more ideas for new books. They spring into my head practically every day, and if there was a market for such ideas I'd be well off. Unfortunately there isn't, and really having the idea is the easy bit. It's the writing that's hard.

Medieval Princesses Are Wimps????

2009-09-16T13:30:00.004+01:00

There was an interesting article in the Daily Mail t'other day in which Hilary Mantel explains the popularity of the Tudor era.

Speaking of earlier periods she says: 'It's because women -apart from a very few outstanding individuals - make no mark on it.' (History, that is.)
'They are passive princesses, to be married or given in marriage. We know little about their personalities and it's hard to imagine their feelings.
'Then with the age of Henry VIII everything changes. Women come to the fore as never before, and indeed as rarely since - no longer just love or lust objects, they become power players.'

Really? Well, I'll see your six wives of Henry the Butcher and raise you Margaret of Anjou, Elizabeth Woodville, Cecily Neville, Margaret Beaufort, Margaret of York, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Yolande of Aragon, Isabelle the Fair (Edward II's wife), Empress Matilda, Queen Maud (King Stephen's wife) and Katherine Swynford. These women all (in their own ways) made a significant mark on history, and we know at least as much about their personalities and feelings as we do of those of (say) Katherine Howard, about whom we know virtually nothing.

Among the lower ranks? There were plenty of formidable matrons running businesses in 15th century London for a start. We've Margery Kempe the visionary. My personal nomination would be Margaret Paston. A woman who could defend her home from a small army with the same casual aplomb she applied to ordering herrings for Lent.

You may say these only add up to 'outstanding individuals' as charged. My answer is that this is true in any age, and by the way it covers men too. For every Field Marshal Montgomery there are an awful lot of Tommy Atkins focused on beer, fags, women and football and leaving very little mark at all, except in the hearts of their families.

I think we shall have to find another reason for the popularity of the Tudors. I must admit, it baffles me, but I'm rather pleased too as I'd hate to see what TV would do to the York family!

Hilary Mantel has published a new novel Wolf Hall set in Henry VIII's reign - natch. I've had a glance at it and it looks interesting if you're into that era. One thing I particularly noticed was that it follows the modern trend of placing direct speech in the present tense. So you get this sort of effect:

'It is a very strange way of writing,' says Alianore.
The Duke of Gloucester says, 'If it was our normal writer, I would think he was taking the piss to some tune.'
'Aye, my lord,' Alianore says, 'but this appears to be serious historical fiction.'
'No doubt it is a new fashion, like short doublets that reveal the top of one's hose,' says the duke.

I notice that Philippa Gregory has done the same thing in The White Queen. I think it's meant to give a feeling of immediacy or something, and it might be appropriate in a contemporary story, but immediacy is not really the thing for historical fiction. In my opinion, anyway, but obviously my opinion is not shared in some high editorial places.

I can only say that if I ever write HF in this style (other than in parody) you may call me 'Muller'.

Talking lamp posts

2009-09-16T13:12:00.004+01:00

I had a strange experience in Llandudno the other day. A lamp post spoke to me!

I mean Joan of Arc had her saints, and Bernadette had the Virgin Mary, while Derek Acorah gets half of Southern Cemetery - I get a lamp post.

To be precise, it told me that this was a 'safe area' and that I was being monitored by CCTV. Why it picked me out for this revelation I have no idea. If I'd been swinging a chain about my head while wearing a swastika armband there might have been some justification. I was simply tootling along minding my own business, and although I'm rather large I don't think my aspect is particularly threatening these days.

The UK (that is the united Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) is actually one of the most surveillance-intensive countries in the world. That includes all countries, including ones run by tin-pot tyrants of one stamp and another. Scary, isn't it? After all, it's not as though Llandudno High Street is a secret naval base or something. (Or if it is, the camouflage is superb.)

The Government probably thinks it makes us feel safe. It doesn't, it makes me feel spied-upon, and I don't like that one bit. What would make me feel safe would be some substantive action against the terrorists and other criminals that throng our country. But that, I suspect, would involve rather more effort, imagination and finance than arranging for a lamp post to shout at a balding scribbler on one of his days off.

A break through?

2009-09-10T10:25:00.002+01:00

Yesterday, apart from being my wedding anniversary, was something of a break through for me. For the first time in a long time I worked hard enough to produce what a normal, sane, professional writer would consider a day's work. What's more, I enjoyed it!

It's quite a while since I've enjoyed writing. Occasionally my little comedy scribblings have given me a grin, but to be writing a serious novel and enjoying the process, rather than feeling like I'm writing another boring report for work, well, that's a step forward.

I have mentioned by new technique, haven't I? Having drawn up a plan for the book, I am writing the bits I feel like writing on a particular day, not banging away consecutively from the beginning to the end. This will take a lot of editing when it's finished, but novels take a lot of editing anyway.

If I can only keep up this progress all will be well.

Historical Accuracy

2009-09-07T12:37:00.005+01:00

I have been thinking about this a lot lately. I suppose one prompt is the latest series of The Tudors. I find it impossible to watch, not least because the actor playing Henry VIII looks nothing like Henry would have done at the age he had reached at the time depicted. It's just unreal, so totally divorced from my image of Henry that I can't relate to it.

Yet the series is popular, and I suppose it's interesting people in history, even if it's only the overdone era of Tudor history. (I can't image why this particular period seems so glorious to so many, but only World War Two and the nasty Nazis get more TV/movie coverage.) I don't really want to slag off The Tudors but talk about the issue of accuracy in general.

First, as I've said before, I think it's impossible to write a 100% accurate historical novel, and if by some miracle one could, the chances are that the result would be quite boring. Fiction is fiction. Even the best-researched novels are still novels, they tend to simplify events - let alone things like bureaucratic processes! - and in the last analysis they are written by people who are living in the present - post-Enlightenment thinkers. I can't really get inside the head of a medieval person. I can try, I can even explain the processes involved, talk about the social background, religious beliefs, upbringing, and so on. But at the end of the day, it's a best guess.

But granting all that, does it mean we shouldn't even try? For me, the first thing is not to knowingly change historical events. They are the scaffolding around which the story is told. I will not change the known outcomes of battles, jousts or parliaments, or make someone live significantly longer than they actually did. I'm extremely reluctant even to change a name, though it does get hard to differentiate between multiple blokes with the same moniker.

If you don't know, for a fact, where your character was on a particular day, then I think it's quite legitimate to move him or her someplace else. I've been trying quite hard to find where Richard of Gloucester went in 1469 after leaving Edward IV at Oundle, and before meeting up with him again in Yorkshire. I have some suspicions, but no proof. So I'm sending him to places that suit the story I am telling, one at least of which is inprobable, but not impossible. But it would be quite wrong to send him to Spain, for example, as he would not have time to get back. Equally, if he's known to be at Westminster on such and such a date, I don't really want to place him at Barnard Castle unless the story line makes it absolutely inescapable. Does it really matter in the context of a novel? Arguably it doesn't, but I prefer it that way.

Of course some historical events are disputed. Who kills the princes in the Tower, for example? One can gloss over this in a work of history. You can list three or four alternatives and come down on what you think is most probable. Or you can leave it entirely open. In a novel this is less straightforward. If you're writing from Elizabeth Woodville's point of view, for example, you may not have to give an outright answer. You can say what was reported to her and what she believed about it. It's highly unlikely that she knew what had happened. Richard III, on the other hand, almost certainly did know. A novel about him really does have to come up with an answer, one way or the other. (One about Elizabeth probably does as well, or the readers are going to be dreadfully disappointed. They will expect to 'know' possibly more than Elizabeth herself did!)

Background is also important. Medieval attitudes to marriage, for example, were quite different to ours. People of property did not expect to marry for love. Love was a bonus, a very desirable bonus admittedly, but definitely a bonus. Most people today would see Edward IV's marriage to Elizabeth as romantic - assuming he was not already married of course, and even then our modern attitudes might still forgive the power of love. His mother and Warwick almost certainly regarded the marriage as self-indulgent and irresponsible, and their attitude, not ours, would have been the commonplace one at the time. We may find their viewpoint unsympathetic, but we at least have to try to understand why they held it.

Then there's the little matter of religion. Religion was absolutely central to the lives of medieval people. We may be cynical, and suppose some of them at least didn't actually believe in it, but that's irrelevant. It still shaped their lives, impacted on the way they though, restricted what they could eat. Yet in so many novels of the middle ages this little matter is scarcely touched upon.

Fiction is fiction - but historical fiction needs to take into account the historical context. It would be absurd to write a contemporary novel about hill walkers in which everyone climbed the fells wearing carpet slippers and made up as clowns. Yet some historical novels are rather like that...

More excuses

2009-09-01T16:59:00.002+01:00

I am sorry that I haven't posted much on here lately. I have been a bit ill - for the last couple of weeks I have felt more or less or exactly doped. It's very odd, but I seem to be coming out of it.

The other thing is that I've been busy writing. Primarily the Richard III thing - a monkey that I long to have off my back - but also one of my little side projects. Whether these sundry side projects will ever turn into full books remains to be seen, but at least they are giving me writing exercise. Which I need.

Today's News

2009-08-11T10:23:00.001+01:00

Found an interesting blog, My Dog Ate My Manuscript. Great title, and the content covers most of the things that get in the way. Do have a read.

Right folks, it's already 10.25 here in England and I haven't written a word. Going away to get on with it as I have a scene in my head that wants writing before I lose it. So no more ramblings today.

Nostalgia 'aint what it used to be

2009-08-10T13:02:00.003+01:00

One of my aspects of character is that I tend to be interested in the past. No surprise there, is there, as it's probably one of the things that made me an historical novelist! But one of the scary things about getting older is that I often think about some incident in my life and then realise '**** that was 30 years ago!' This happens more and more, sometimes - as with the end of steam engines in regular service - the figure is actually 40 or more.

This morning I was thinking about folk music. What started it was that yesterday, while cleaning a gutter out, a song came into my head that I haven't heard for a very long time. I'm not sure who used to sing it but possibly the Spinners - that's the Liverpool folk group not the guys from Detroit with the same name. (I like their music too but that's another story.) The song was a version of A Roving though I don't recall the Maid coming from Amsterdam or some of the coarse lyrics listed on the web. This was a folk song, not a rugby song, after all.

What out this song into my head I don't know, but it took me back, in my mind, to the old Manchester Sports Guild, whose folk nights I used to attend regularly with my then-girlfriend Catherine and even, on rare occasions, on my own. People like Mike Harding and Boys of the Lough used to appear, and on nights when no one of this class was booked members of the audience would get up and sing, often unaccompanied. These people varied in ability from excellent to brave, but we all had a good time, helped no doubt by the ever-open bar. Catherine and I would usually depart in time to stagger to the 23-30 train to Bury, but I think proceeding were generally winding down by that time anyway.

There was a great deal of Scottish and Irish influence in the music, but a lot of it also referred to English history. One wonderful female singer - whose name I wish I could recall - even had a song about Henry I and his brothers. There were also loads of references to the struggles of workers in the 19th century, and of course there was that wonderful Ewan MacCall song The Manchester Rambler. In my memory we all sang it every week - though I'm sure we didn't - and knew every word.

I could show you where the MSG once stood, though not a brick remains. (It fell victim to the continual redevelopment of Manchester that has robbed of us so many fascinating buildings, as well as a few, like the MSG, that were undeniably grotty but served a purpose.) The memory lives on

A week of (some) achievement

2009-08-09T17:25:00.000+01:00

This has been a good week for me. My mood has held up really well and I have achieved quite a bit, including the most writing I've done for some time, mostly concentrated on the R3 project. The test will be to sustain progress next week. I am not quite enjoying writing yet but at least I seem to have go to the point where I can endure it as a task of work.

Given that I spent most of my life longing to be a full-time writer, and now have the opportunity, it's ironic that the writing process has become a struggle to me. I can only think it's one of God's little jokes, but I've come to the view that the only answer is to persist. I'm pretty sure He doesn't want me to jack it in or He'd have sent more money and I'd be living at the seaside.

Amazingly I have actually written out a plan for the whole novel! There are even odd bits of conversation or plotting ready to be slotted in, like prefabricated parts. This may seem straightforward and obvious to many of you out there, especially those with logical minds and structured ways of working. However to me, who has never consciously planned anything of a literary nature, it is almost revolutionary. Whether the end product will be any better remains to be seen.

Author Page at Amazon.com, redux

2009-08-03T16:38:00.002+01:00

Those of a nervous disposition will be pleased to know that I've replaced the 'mad professor' photo on the Amazon.com author page with one that looks a bit more civilised. The page does look like quite professional now, and even feeds in this blog. As it's all free publicity I have to say it seems like an excellent tool, one which I commend to my fellow authors. In the current climate anything that helps to sell a book or two has to go down as a Good Thing.

Another Short Story

2009-08-03T15:57:00.004+01:00

I have it in mind to write a short story around Constance of York, the heroine of Within the Fetterlock. There's a practical reason for this, at least potentially, I'm not just doing it on a whim, or for fun. However, at the moment I haven't a scooby what to write about, although it could be about any aspect of her life not covered in the novel. (I don't want to rake over old ground).

Any suggestions gratefully received. No prize for the winner though, I'm afraid, though if it's a really inspiring idea I haven't thought about I will credit you when and if the thing is published.

Alianore Audley may also get her own short story in due course.

Progress?

2009-07-22T12:43:00.002+01:00

Er, well, it is rather slow, and a lot of it is going on in my head instead of getting banged into the PC. But progress there is, and I'm onto some serious keyboard bashing right after lunch. (This morning I was down the doctors, got positive news, so am feeling rather eager and enthusiastic for once. It's good to be in such a mood!)

I did have a really radical thought the other day, about changing the whole thing to first person. I reckon I can write quicker in that 'voice' and you get automatic exclusion of head switching which is no bad thing. Still considering as I'm not sure I'm comfortable in the style. Rewriting from one to the other ain't that hard, in fact it's quite a fun exercise.

Writing exercise is something I have been doing! In fact there's quite a fun Robin Hood project going on in the background, or rather on the laptop when the TV's boring me too much of an evening. Probably won't come to much, but the fact that I'm writing for myself, for pure pleasure is a massive step forward.

Anyway I shall see what progress I do make this afternoon...

Author Page at Amazon.com

2009-07-12T18:23:00.006+01:00

Thanks to a tip from Sharon K. Penman - thank you Sharon! - I have set myself up with an author page at Amazon.com. It really isn't that hard to do and any authors out there might like to have a go themselves if they haven't already.

The one odd bit was that when the thing invited me to 'claim' my books it showed several that pretty obviously weren't written by Brian Wainwright. (Unless, for example, Amazon think that Susan Higginbotham is a penname of mine! - Susan will gladly confirm that it definitely isn't.)

I apologise for the photo (mine on the Amazon site that is). It was the best I could rustle up at short notice, as my resident official photographer has a habit of taking what she calls 'candid' shots. That is shots of me when I am wearing some kind of ghastly expression. This one makes me look like a mad professor, which is a relatively positive image compared to some.

For some reason Amazon won't accept photos of one with a pet. Which is a pity, as I am more relaxed with a dog about, and a greyhound is beautiful enough to divert the eye from my time-worn features...So here to make up for it here is one of me with old George.

Poetry Corner

2009-07-12T16:55:00.008+01:00

I'm a great fan of the Shropshire poet A.E.Housman and today I found what seems to be a complete collection of his poetry on the web. Well worth a look!

Favourite lines? These from A Shropshire Lad.

Into my heart an air that kills
From yon far country blows:
What are those blue remembered hills,
What spires, what farms are those?

That is the land of lost content,
I see it shining plain,
The happy highways where I went
And cannot come again.

Historical Accuracy

2009-07-05T14:43:00.004+01:00

This topic is currently being discussed all over the place, and often more heat than light is generated in the process. Anyway, I thought I'd give my thoughts of the process and see what people think.

I have come to believe that it's impossible to create a 100% accurate historical novel, not least because we don't have all the necessary information. I've been studying the middle ages quite seriously since I was about 16 - in other words about 40 years - and what continues to astonish me is not how much I know, but how little. There are so many aspects to cover. To name a few - equine matters, archery, jousting technique, building systems, dress, social customs, sexual practices, politics, international relations and diplomacy, law, ships, armour...The list goes on and on, almost to infinity. Anyone - no matter how educated or talented - who kids themselves that they are an expert in all these fields is simply deluded.

OK, there are books and other sources for research. But research takes time - lots of it. And here's the breaking news. Even specialised experts, the ones who publish books on medieval pottery, or whatever, sometimes get it wrong. Historians have theories that other historians trash a few years later. What was historical orthodoxy in 1985 may well be 'outdated' now. Unless you keep up with every published book and article on your particular theme, you can expose yourself to error. If you've got the time and resources to do all that the chances are you won't have time to do any writing. You'll be a bit like a fellow I know who plans to build a super-accurate model of a local station. Last time I heard he'd built three coal wagons...

Then there's the little matter of language. Oh boy! How do you tackle that? People in the 14th and 15th Century spoke a different language to us, even when they called it English. Give your average reader a copy of Chaucer in its original form and see how much headway they make with it. Or even the Paston Letters (again in original form) which relatively speaking are easy peasy. Sorry, no one (except the odd eccentric) is going to buy a novel with the dialogue in that form.

So what do we do? Well I certainly don't think we should give up on accuracy. We should do our best, and not make stupid mistakes like having our medieval folk eating potatoes or drinking chocolate. Maybe we need to get together and check each other's manuscripts for particularly egregious errors. (My particular bête noire is when forms of address are incorrect - it really jerks me out of my suspended disbelief.) But let's not kid ourselves that we'll get everything absolutely right first time. The thing is, to at least try.

As for language, I think the best approach is the 'translation' one. In other words, it's a bit like translating Polish into English. You end up with modern English except for the odd Polish word put in for effect, or to cover a meaning that simply doesn't exist in English. The difference is you have to try to avoid modern idioms unless you're looking for comic effect. When wrote Alianore Audley I threw in all kinds of modernisms, slang and American usage becase I was deliberately trying to be funny. I was parodying the effect of language used in some medieval novels I've read over the years. It would have been equally comic to include a 'forsooth' or 'by my troth' every couple of lines. 'Tushery' I think they used to call it...

Constance of York

2009-06-22T10:27:00.002+01:00

Fans of Within the Fetterlock may like to know that Constance now has her own entry on the online Find a Grave site. The entry is a pretty positive one - I could almost have written it myself, although I promise you I didn't. (But for Google Alerts I'd have known nothing about it.)

You can even leave a memorial message on there if you like, though really you're about 593 years too late.

New Blog - Joan Szechtman

2009-06-19T19:31:00.002+01:00

Joan Szechtman, a new author I believe we are going to hear much more about, has started a blog Random Thoughts of an Accidental Author

Joan has told me that her early posts will include plenty about Richard III. Well worth a look...

Foster a Greyhound?

2009-06-07T16:05:00.002+01:00

Tia Greyhound and Lurcher Rescue are overwhelmed with unwanted greyhounds at the moment. If you live in the UK and can possibly foster one of these beautiful animals for a short term please do get in touch with them.

If you actually want to adopt one, I'm sure you'll be equally welcomed. Please help if you possibly can.

Short Story - Progress

2009-05-19T09:54:00.003+01:00

The short story has been sent off to the Richard III Society. Apparently they're happy with it so it should appear in the Autumn 2009 Ricardian Bulletin.

Some Ricardians, familiar only with The Adventures of Alianore Audley, will get a shock as it's in a very different style. About the only thing it has in common with Alianore is that it's written first person, something that, for serious work, is usually outside my comfort zone. (Largely because it leads me to measure myself against Robert Graves, the master of first person historicals, and find myself wanting.) So I await the reaction with some unease, albeit with the assurance that all publicity is good publicity.

Now - on with the book!

Sharon Penman's Blog

2009-05-16T17:42:00.003+01:00

Sharon Penman's Blog is always worth a read. The latest entry just happens to mention my books among others. Cough, cough...

A Spooky Coincidence

2009-05-14T22:33:00.005+01:00

I have just got hold of a copy of John Ashdown-Hill's book on Eleanor Talbot, Eleanor, the Secret Queen: The Woman Who Put Richard On The Throne. A review will follow in due course either here or at The Yorkist Age probably the latter given that it's on-topic.

I have had a brief thumb through it and one thing has already made me say 'wow!' though it's nothing to do with the main subject matter.

Over the last few years I've written a fair bit of fiction about Elizabeth Talbot, Eleanor's sister. Most of it is doomed to die unseen, as it doesn't really fit into a novel about Richard III. In fact, Elizabeth as a character is a bit like Edmund Mortimer in reverse, envisaged as a major player, she is going to end as a bit part.

Anyway, I tend to focus on characters until I can see them in my mind's eye, and my image of Elizabeth was of her standing in a garden, among lots of borage plants. (I even remember checking when borage flowers so I could get the scene right.)

Guess what her personal flower was, as used on her seal, according to John A-H? Yes, you've got it - borage.

Poetry Corner - Norman and Saxon, Rudyard Kipling

2009-05-10T14:52:00.002+01:00

My son," said the Norman Baron, "I am dying, and you will be heir
To all the broad acres in England, that William gave me for share
When he conquered the Saxon at Hastings, and a nice little handful it is.
But before you go over to rule it I want you to understand this:–

"The Saxon is not like us Normans. His manners are not so polite.
But he never means anything serious till he talks about justice and right.
When he stands like an ox in the furrow – with his sullen set eyes on your own,
And grumbles, 'This isn't fair dealing,' my son, leave the Saxon alone.

"You can horsewhip your Gascony archers, or torture your Picardy spears;
But don't try that game on the Saxon; you'll have the whole brood round your ears.
From the richest old Thane in the county to the poorest chained serf in the field,
They'll be at you and on you like hornets, and, if you are wise, you will yield.

"But first you must master their language, their dialect, proverbs and songs.
Don't trust any clerk to interpret when they come with the tale of their wrongs.
Let them know that you know what they're saying; let them feel that you know what to say.
Yes, even when you want to go hunting, hear 'em out if it takes you all day.

They'll drink every hour of the daylight and poach every hour of the dark.
It's the sport not the rabbits they're after (we've plenty of game in the park).
Don't hang them or cut off their fingers. That's wasteful as well as unkind,
For a hard-bitten, South-country poacher makes the best man- at-arms you can find.

"Appear with your wife and the children, at their weddings and funerals and feasts.
Be polite but not friendly to Bishops; be good to all poor parish priests.
Say 'we,' 'us' and 'ours' when you're talking, instead of 'you fellows' and 'I.'
Don't ride over seeds; keep your temper; and never you tell 'em a lie!"

Rudyard Kipling, 1865-1936

Nice one, Rudyard!

Short Story - Completed!

2009-05-05T13:52:00.003+01:00

Yes, in an amazingly short time by my standards, I have finished it. I just need to sort of chew over it a bit and then send it off.

I'd better not say too much about it, except that I wrote it from the POV of someone Richard had taken out.

Short Story

2009-05-01T10:58:00.003+01:00

I ahve been asked to write a short story for the Ricardian Bulletin. (Some of you may have seen Sandra Worth's story in the last Bulletin - the request is for something similar, about 2500 words around one of Graham Turner's paintings.)

I have one or two ideas in mind already. It isn't a big piece and once I've settled on an idea it should only really take a few days work, and so not delay the novel writing much. The hard thing is deciding which painting to use. They are all so beautiful.

Progress with that Richard III book

2009-04-28T17:05:00.002+01:00

Progress? What's all this progress thing?

There is actually quite a bit of book written. About a third at a guess. However one of the things that has been holding me back is a decision as to the starting date. Well, I've now decided, and it's probably definite. That it will start at the time of Margaret of York's wedding in Burgundy.

This means I have to write one or possibly two new chapters, but given that the first chapter is maybe the most important of all, this is probably a good thing as I was not happy with my original first chapter. And if I'm not happy with it, why should anyone else be?

The lead characters? Richard of Gloucestre and Anne Neville, natch. However strong supporting roles will be played by Francis Lovel (although his story will be told from a totally different angle to any previous novel, and I believe I'm going to be closer to real history on this one) and Elizabeth Talbot, Duchess of Norfolk (who will not appear much, but will go to some places where the others can't, particularly into the Beaufort camp.) I wanted to tell it from as few viewpoints as possible, to minimise head-hopping, and those are my four picks. I may have to give a few scenes to other people (George and Isabelle Clarence perhaps) but I'm going to see if I can avoid it.

It's going to be a big book, and a complex book. Sorry folks, but the list of characters is going to dwarf Fetterlock's. However, at least it is happening. I am writing more freely than I have done for years - not that that's saying much - the enthusiam is returning, and although it won't be finished tomorrow, as long as God spares me it will be finished.

This Time by Joan Szechtman

2009-04-28T16:55:00.000+01:00

While you are waiting for 'my' version of Richard III (see my next post for details of progress) you may care to read This Time by Joan Szechtman. Joan is a new author, but also a very good one and has found a completely new angle on the story. You'll find further details on her site, but in essence Richard doesn't die at Bosworth - instead he's snatched away and finds himself in 21st Century America!

This may sound bizarre, but somehow it works. It's fascinating to read how Joan's Richard deals with the transition, and with all the complications that are thrown up. Obviously it's not straight historical fiction, but if you fancy a change from that genre this is a neat piece of crossover which I think most Ricardians - and other people interested in Richard - will enjoy. It's the start of a series and I know Joan has at least a couple more books in the pipeline.

A Vision of Light

2009-04-19T09:43:00.000+01:00

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is one of the select few books I read every so often to remind myself how good it is.

Being the picky sort, I can find some historical errors in it - but guess what? The writing is so good that it doesn't matter.
It's a magical book in more senses than one - the heroine, Margaret of Ashbury, has an unusual gift from God. It enables her to perform miracles, but it also gets her into all sorts of trouble.

I'm a great admirer of Judith Merkle Riley - her books are never dull, always full of lively invention and plot twists. If you haven't read this one, give it a try. Just don't expect the usual style of HF.

Within the Fetterlock - endorsement from Sharon K. Penman

2009-04-14T16:49:00.000+01:00

Within the Fetterlock has just had this wonderful endorsement from Sharon K. Penman :

"I highly recommend this suspenseful, compelling novel about a fascinating woman, Constance of York, set in the turbulent reigns of Richard II and Henry IV. Readers of good historical fiction will be eagerly awaiting Brian Wainwright's next book; I know I am!"

Yes, that Sharon K. Penman! To say I am pleased is putting it mildly - pleased for Constance as well as for Tamara Mazzei at Trivium and myself. To say nothing of flattered.

The only thing is, I really need to get on with writing the next book...

Interviews

2009-04-14T14:55:00.000+01:00

Some links to interviews with me, in case you enjoy reading what comes off the top of my head in reply to questions.

First, with Fiction Scribe.

This interview is with author Wendy J Dunn.

The third interview is at Conversations with Writers.

Finally an interview with Wendy Zollo on the Trivium Site.

Read all of these and you qualify as a fan! In fact, you'll probably be able to start a biography. Some interesting questions I think - thanks to all the interviewers!

Greyhounds and Fetterlocks

2009-04-14T14:36:00.000+01:00

Welcome to my new Blog!

I have lately decided to abandon my website for the time being, as blogging is more straightforward, more fun, and above all, cheaper. As some of you know I have been blogging for a while over at The Yorkist Age (House of York history) and even more obscurely at 7mm Great Central (about railways). This will focus on my writing, and may from time to time include other literary issues and maybe even reviews of other people's books when they don't fit The Yorkist Age's time span.

And being the disorganised chap I am, there will be random posts about other issues, without a doubt.