Tag: historical fiction

Blog Tour/Q&A: Killer of Kings by Matthew Harffy

whatcathyreadnext1 Comment

KillerofKingsBlogTourBanner

I’m delighted to host today’s stop on the blog tour for Killer of Kings by Matthew Harffy. This gripping, action-packed historical thriller is the fourth in Matthew’s Bernicia Chronicles series set in 7th century Anglo-Saxon Britain.  I thrilled to say that Matthew has kindly agreed to answer some questions about the book, its inspiration and his approach to writing.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

KillerofKingsAbout the Book

AD 636, Anglo-Saxon Britain. Beobrand has land, men and riches. He should be content. And yet he cannot find peace until his enemies are food for the ravens. But before Beobrand can embark on his bloodfeud, King Oswald orders him southward, to escort holy men bearing sacred relics. When Penda of Mercia marches a warhost into the southern kingdoms, Beobrand and his men are thrown into the midst of the conflict. Beobrand soon finds himself fighting for his life and his honour. In the chaos that grips the south, dark secrets are exposed, bringing into question much that Beobrand had believed true. Can he unearth the answers and exact the vengeance he craves? Or will the blood-price prove too high, even for a warrior of his battle-fame and skill?

Book Facts

  • Format: ebook, paperback
  • Publisher: Aria Fiction
  • No. of pages: 310, 384
  • Publication date: 1st June 2017
  • Genre: Historical Fiction

Purchase links*

Amazon: http://amzn.to/2nNItf2
Kobo: http://bit.ly/2nNEyPz
iBooks: http://apple.co/2ocWWEi
Google Play: http://bit.ly/2ocS2Y7
(links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme)

Find Killer of Kings on Goodreads

Interview: Matthew Harffy, author of Killer of Kings (Bernicia Chronicles #4)

Killer of Kings is the fourth book in your Bernicia Chronicles series. What are the challenges of writing a series compared to a standalone novel?

I suppose the biggest challenges are to have a story arc and characters that make the series fit together as a long story, whilst ensuring that each book is satisfying as a standalone novel in its own right.

Without giving too much away for readers who have not yet discovered the series, can you tell us a bit about Killer of Kings?

The protagonist of the Bernicia Chronicles is Beobrand, a young man who, by the time we reach Killer of Kings, has become a renowned warrior and leader of men. This novel begins with him accompanying some monks south from Northumbria to East Anglia. Of course, trouble is never far away from Beobrand, and when he arrives in the south, war is already brewing and he finds himself quickly embroiled in a savage battle for survival.

Did growing up in Northumberland provide inspiration for your novels?

Yes! I only lived in Northumberland for a few years as a child, but the area had a profound effect on me. It is such a wild land, with reminders of the past all around, from the Roman remains of Hadrian’s Wall, to the medieval ruins of castles, such as Dunstanburgh. It is hard not to imagine our forebears walking the same rugged coastline and those windswept hills 1,400 years ago at the time my books are set.

The hero of your books is Beobrand. How has he developed as a character over the series?

He starts the first book, The Serpent Sword, as a rather naïve young man. He is rapidly thrown into the struggles and battles between the warlords of the different kingdoms of Albion. Over the course of the books he becomes a powerful man, with land and a war band. He is still impetuous and is quick to anger, but by Killer of Kings he is also wiser and begins to understand the deadly games the kings of the land play with the lives of their subjects.

How do you approach the research for your books? Do you enjoy the process of research?

I read all I can on the year or two I am writing about to find interesting historical events that I can use as the tent poles for the narrative of each novel. Then, after I’ve planned the plot of the story, I leave the detailed research for the first round of edits. Each time I reach a point in the story that has something I’m not sure of, I highlight it and return to it when I have completed the first draft.  I wouldn’t go as far as to say I enjoy the process of research, but I do love finding snippets of information that fit perfectly into the story I have envisaged. Sometimes something comes along that elevates the story and just fits perfectly. I enjoy that.

How do you think you would have coped living in 7th Century Britain?

I don’t think I would have survived for long. Certainly not in the violent times I portray in the Bernicia Chronicles.

Do you have a special place to write or any writing rituals?

I write in any place I can. Wherever I can sit with my laptop for an hour is a place I can write. The only thing I do is put on headphones and play classical music or nature sounds to help me concentrate.

What is your favourite and least favourite part of the writing process?

My favourite part of the process is finishing a novel! My least favourite is waiting for the first reviews!

Which other writers do you admire?

I admire more writers than I can list here, but authors I’ve discovered in recent years that have really impressed me are Toby Clements, Justin Hill and Robert Lautner.

What are you working on next?

I’ve almost finished the first draft of book five in the Bernicia Chronicles series, Warrior of Woden. Once I have finished that and done all the necessary edits, I’ll have a couple of months off from writing and then start on book six!

Thank you Matthew for those fascinating answers and for the great news there will be more adventures for Beobrand!

Harffy_MatthewAbout the Author

Matthew grew up in Northumberland where the rugged terrain, ruined castles and rocky coastline had a huge impact on him. Decades later, a documentary about Northumbria’s Golden Age sowed the kernel of an idea for a series of historical fiction novels. The first is the action-packed tale of vengeance and coming of age, The Serpent Sword, and the sequel is The Cross and the Curse. Matthew has worked in the IT industry, where he spent all day writing and editing, just not the words that most interested him. Prior to that, he worked in Spain as an English teacher and translator.  He now lives in Wiltshire, England, with his wife and their two daughters.

Connect with Matthew

Website: http://www.matthewharffy.com/
Twitter: @MatthewHarffy
Facebook: MatthewHarffyAuthor
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13701087.Matthew_Harffy

Connect with Aria Fiction

Website
Facebook http://bit.ly/2jQxVtV
Twitter
Instagram 
NetGalley
Sign up to the Aria newsletter: http://bit.ly/2jQxVtV

Blog Tour/Guest Post: Widdershins by Helen Steadman

whatcathyreadnext8 Comments

Widdershins blog tour

I’m thrilled to be kicking off the blog tour for Widdershins by Helen Steadman. Click here to read my review of this atmospheric, chilling and compelling story inspired by the 17th century witchcraft trials in Newcastle.   Below you can read Helen’s fascinating article about the attempts of the real life witch-finders to justify their actions. It seems ‘spin’ was alive and well even as long ago as the 17th century!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

WiddershinsCoverRevealAbout the Book

Did all women have something of the witch about them? Jane Chandler is an apprentice healer. From childhood, she and her mother have used herbs to cure the sick. But Jane will soon learn that her sheltered life in a small village is not safe from the troubles of the wider world. From his father’s beatings to his uncle’s raging sermons, John Sharpe is beset by bad fortune. Fighting through personal tragedy, he finds his purpose: to become a witch-finder and save innocents from the scourge of witchcraft.

Book Facts

Format: Paperback             Publisher: Impress Books         No. of pages: 250
Publication: 1st July 2017  Genre: Historical Fiction

To pre-order/purchase Widdershins from Amazon.co.uk, click here (link provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme)
Find Widdershins on Goodreads

‘Witch-finders go on the record to defend their diabolical practices’, guest post by Helen Steadman

As part of the research for my novel, Widdershins, I read the diaries of two of the better known witch-finders in England.

In perhaps an early attempt at PR, or damage-limitation at the very least, the very famous witch-finder, Matthew Hopkins (more commonly known as the Witch-finder General) and a witch pricker, John Stearne, published their diaries. The decision to publish may have been in response to one vicar who had had enough. John Gaule, vicar of Great Staughton published his own book, Select Cases of Conscience Touching Witches and Witchcrafts, in which Gaule criticised the work of the witch-finders and led to them being questioned by the judiciary.

These are filled with fascinating (if troubling) insights into what might go through the mind of someone determining whether someone should live or die. In this short book, Hopkins sets out fourteen questions and replies to them. These questions range from whether he is a witch himself, through to whether witch-finders are simply fleecing people. In fairness to Hopkins, he appears to be rather better value than the Newcastle witch-finder. Hopkins states he charged only twenty shillings per town. This appears to be excellent value compared with the Newcastle witch-finder’s fee of twenty shillings per witch, and John Kincaid’s fee of six pounds for one witch in Scotland.

WiddershinsHopkinsSome of his justifications for finding people guilty of witchcraft are a little on the thin side. For example, he provides the names of some of the familiars of an accused witch. On her fourth night of being kept awake, the accused woman confessed to having several familiars and imps. Hopkins lists the imps’ names given by the woman as ‘Elemanzer, Pyewacket, Peckin the Crown, Grizzel, Greedigut &c. which no mortall could invent…’ So, this woman’s fate has been sealed by her having a vivid imagination and a knack for making up names.

While Hopkins’ book is short, to the point and easy to read, Stearne’s book overflows with so many biblical quotations, it is quite hard to get to the point of his defence. But he also refers to waking and mentions Elizabeth Manningtree from Essex, who was kept awake for three days and three nights and who then confessed ‘many things’.

Sleep deprivation has been used as a form of torture by many regimes. Menachem Begin, the Israeli prime minister from 1977-83, talks about being tortured by the KGB by being kept awake for three days and three nights. He says that ‘In the head of the interrogated prisoner, a haze begins to form. His spirit is wearied to death, his legs are unsteady, and he has one sole desire: to sleep…’

Despite using a range of terrible torture techniques to send dozens of (mainly) women to untimely and dreadful deaths, Stearne uses the bible as his defence and ends his book by reminding readers that he was doing God’s work: ‘And so I leave myself to the censure of the world, yet desire it might be left to the Almighty, who knoweth the secrets of all hearts: For, blessed are they that do his commandments, Revel. 22.14.’

Sources

Menachem Begin (1978) White Nights: The Story of a Prisoner in Russia. London: Futura Publications

John Gaule [1646] Select Cases of Conscience Touching Witches and Witchcrafts. London: Richard Clutterbuck. Accessed at: https://archive.org/stream/JohnGauleSermonOnWitches/John%20Gaule-Sermon-on-Witches#page/n5/mode/2up.

Matthew Hopkins ( 2010) [1647] The Discovery of Witches in Answer to Severall Queries, Lately: Delivered to the Judges of Assize for the County of Norfolk and Now Published by Matthew Hopkins, Witch-finder, for the Benefit of the Whole Kingdome. Qontro Classics

John Stearne (1973) [1648] A Confirmation and Discovery of Witch Craft. The Rota.

HelenSteadmanAbout the Author

Helen Steadman lives in the foothills of the North Pennines, and she particularly enjoys researching and writing about the history of the north east of England. Following her MA in creative writing at Manchester Met, Helen is now completing a PhD in English at the University of Aberdeen. When she’s not studying or writing, Helen critiques, edits and proofreads other writers work, and she is a professional member of the Society for Editors and Proofreaders. Her next novel will be about Grace Darling and she is carrying out research for a novel about the Shotley Bridge sword makers.

Connect with Helen

Website    Twitter   Goodreads

Widdershins