Early twentieth century:

Lessons in Love November 1905

Lessons in Desire August 1906

Lessons in Discovery November 1906

Lessons in Power Spring 1907

Lessons in Temptation July 1907

Lessons in Temptation missing scene July 1907

What the Mathematician said to the Statue Summer 1907

Lessons in Seduction September 1907

What the Mathematician said to the Engineer November 1907

My true love sent to me December 1907

Lessons in Trust Summer 1908

Resolution January 1909

On the occasion of their anniversary November 1909

Bloody Mathematicians Spring 1910

May our days be merry and bright Winter 1910

A fit employment for a gentleman Summer 1912 (crossover 'fanfic')

Once we won matches Aug 1912

Ring in the New December 1913

All Lessons Learned Spring 1919

The Boy from Kings, early 1930's.

A random collection of silly things:

Drabbles 1 Edwardian

Drabbles 2 Edwardian

Splitting Infinitives Edwardian, crossover 'fanfic'

Ten plus five plus eight = twenty three Edwardian crossover 'fanfic'

Love Letters, 1911 to 2011

Lessons in Disco 2010

With Syd McGinley taking the Ben Ainslie role and leading the first stage, up through Cornwall. On subsequent days, as the torch wends its way along the West Country and into Wales, we have:

Day Author
2. Clare London
3. Anne Brooke
4. Jo Myles
5. Chris Quinton
6. Bruin Fisher
7. K C Warwick
8. Elin Gregory
9. A celebration of British Flash
10. Becky Black

Gonna be great. (Such a great crowd of hooligans!) Posts will appear here.

Elin Gregory, who won the random draw of commenters at Coffee Time Romance. She's chosen a copy of Sail Away, which features my official fanfic of Lee Rowan's lovely Royal Navy series lads.

Am delighted to be a guest today at Melissa Schroeder's blog, talking about writing about heroes who are gay. And disabled. Do drop in and share you thoughts - are there any physical factors in a hero which would put you off reading a story?

By the time I send out the next newsletter, I’ll be up to my eyeballs in jury service. I must resist the concept of the sealed jury room and the long hours sitting listening to a case – such potential for two handsome young men to have a fling...

News

I’ve got a new WWI based story coming out from Carina in February 2013. Here’s a little, unedited, smidge of Promises Made Under Fire (working title):

First light. A distant sound of something heavy being moved. A thin curtain of rain—the sort of misty, drizzly rain that soaked us through to the skin. Prospect of something for breakfast that might just pretend to be bacon and bread.
Good morning, France. An identical morning to yesterday and bound to be the same tomorrow. Tomorrow and tomorrow, world without end, amen.
I looked up and down the trench, the small world I’d become bound in was now starting to rouse, stretching and facing a grey dawn. The men were stirring, so I had to get out my best stiff upper lip; if I showed how forlorn I felt then what chance had I of inspiring them?
“Morning, sir.” Bentham, nominally my officer’s servant but in reality a cross between a nursemaid and a housemaster, popped up, smiling. “Breakfast won’t be that long. You and Lieutenant Foden need something solid in your stomachs on a day like this.”
“Aye.” I nodded, not trusting myself to say anything else until I’d got my head on straight.

There’s lots going on – and lots to win – over the next few days. Tomorrow through to Monday there’ll be UK Meet authors (GLBTQ fiction) over at my coffee corner posting some great excerpts and offering prizes. Then I’m at Melissa Schroeder’s blog on Monday, discussing writing a “different” sort of romance to the traditional. There’ll be a copy of Tumble Turn (or a print book from my back catalogue) on offer.

May 19th sees not just the Heineken Cup Final (I’ll be there, ogling the men, I mean watching the rugby skills) – that’s the day the Olympic torch starts making its way through the UK. We’ve set up a blog relay to follow the torch through the country. A number of authors (draft list here) will be posting something relevant to where the torch is on any given day. A story set there? Their own memories of the area? There should be lots of good stuff.

Inspiration

There was an Olympic themed flower celebration at our local church, last weekend. I think the Bocchia themed display was my favourite. So clever...

Today's guest, Stevie lives just twenty five minutes drive away from me, which means we can get together for lunches and shopping expeditions! And she doesn't half write a good tale.

How did you get the inspiration for this batch of stories?

My inspiration comes from all over the place. Most of this batch came from combining places I've been, people I've either met briefly or glimpsed from afar, and snippets of events I've heard or read about. For instance, the setting for 'The Footballer's Mistress' is based on the abandoned cotton mill in the village where I grew up, which has since been converted into houses and luxury flats. I've been to similar Derbyshire mills that are now working museums, and I got to wondering what the former workers in my mill would think of people living where the machinery used to be. Plus Bamford Mill still retains a working engine (although it no longer powers machinery), called Edna and one of the flats was known affectionately as 'Over Edna'.
( Read more... )

What’s the best (and the worst) thing about meeting up with other writers?

The best is getting to meet the other authors in person so that we can chat and swap ideas. The worst is that there never seems to be enough time to talk to everyone as much as I'd like to do, because all of them are utterly smashing.



Listen to Stevie read an excerpt.

Today is the anniversary of the death of Ronnie Poulton-Palmer, one of my heroes and also an inspiration for the story I've just had accepted by Carina (working title "Promises Made Under Fire"). That's the story I'm editing at present, so an immured in WWI again.

Rugby playing, philanthropic, heroic and popular, Poulton's last words were, allegedly, "I shall never play at Twickenham again."

Excuse me while I go and find another hankie...

Thanks to Erastes, there's a dedicated site for the torch relay posts, that'll be there in perpetuity. Posting access e-mails are rolling out gradually for those taking part. Very much a work in progress at the moment as this has gone from "idea over lunch" to something dead exciting within a few days.

And, as as if that wasn't thrilling enough, we've got an event going on as part of The Romance Studio and Coffee Time Romance's joint anniversary celebrations.

When: May 12th-14th
Where: Charlie's coffee Corner
What: A celebration - in advance - of UK meet, with attendees dropping in, postings excerpts, offering goodies, etc. More news nearer the time.

This is very draft and will undoubtedly change much so only take a gander if you're an author interested in filling up some of the empty slots or checking the ones you've been allocated.
( Read more... )

Just seen that Badminton Horse Trials has been cancelled because of waterlogged ground. Such a shame; great event.

In other watery news, the Goodreads draw for Tumble Turn was won by Tracey.