Win a set of my Roman set books

To help Christina Phillips celebrate the publication of Forbidden, her debut Berkeley sensation, I'm offering one lucky commentator on her blog a signed set of my Roman books. So that's The Gladiator Honour, A Noble Captive, Sold & Seduced and The Roman's Virgin Mistress up for grabs. She also has a ton of other great prizes and her book looks excellent. Why not go and comment?

In my own news: my editor called late last night and I've had to drop everything to work on a Special Project that is due on the 24th. It should be fun but blog service and twitter might be a bit sporadic because of it!

In Polish

Kate Hardy let me know last night that Gladiator's Honour is out in Poland this month.

The blurb reads like this:

GLADIATOR

Starożytny Rzym, 65 rok p. n. e.Przekonali się, że są dla siebie stworzeni, jednak Rzymianka z rodu patrycjuszy nie może poślubić gladiatora. Oboje, zarówno Julia Antonia, jak i Walens Trak, są tego w pełni świadomi, a mimo to nie zamierzają wyrzec się miłości. Julia opiera się macosze, która chce jak najszybciej i najkorzystniej wydać za mąż nielubianą pasierbicę. Walens stawia wszystko na jedną kartę. Podczas zbliżających się igrzysk musi zwyciężyć i z rąk Cezara otrzymać drewniany miecz, co jest równoznaczne ze zdobyciem wolności. Wie, że przyjdzie mu walczyć z bardzo groźnym przeciwnikiem.

Again a language that I don't know but it looks interesting. And I love the little Santa's hats they have on all their books this month.

December Newsletter and contests

I have done my December newsletter and it has its usual array of contests, plus two recipes. Mrs Charlton's Lambswool Punch and my own eggnog recipe.
There are also contests to win a signed hardback copy of Taken by the Viking as well as one for aspiring writers.
These are exclusive to my newsletter subscribers, so if you wish to take part, do sign up and I will send out my latest newsletter... The sign up is on my sidebar.
If you want a chance to win A Christmas Wedding Wager along with a whole host of other brilliant books, visit Kate Walker's blog for her annual Christmas Stocking contest.

I found out that Gladiator's Honor was out in Greece earlier this year as O Monomaxos. it is a very interesting experience to see my work in an entirely different alphabet. I did take several terms of ancient Greek, and so can recognise a few words. Being published in dfferent languages is one of the perks of writing for HM&B. Harlequins are published in 22 different languages and in 109 different countries.
So far, including English, my books have appeared in 5 different languages.

Grim reality v Romance in historicals

Carrie Lofty who organises the Unusual Historicals has a very interesting post about literary v romance interpretation of history. Basically, she was pointing out that literary historical novels tend to emphaise the grim realities and while romance tend to paint a roiser picutre.

I can not disagree with this assement. The late great Elizabeth Goudge also pointed out how romantic novelist tended to see the rainbows in the pools of mud. She saw nothing wrong with this and neither do I.

Will Self is on record as saying that he likes to write about images that shock. But why are gruesome images more potent or striking than other images? Why are they more worthy?

With historicals, there is also the point of historical perception. If you do not know any different, will you necessarily perceive yourself as dirty or unclean? And there is an argument that actually things were far cleaner than one might think. (see for example Behind the Scenes --Domestic Arrangements in Historic Houses by Christina Hardyment) and that evangelic Christian movement of the mid-nineteenth century sought to portray things differently to prove a point.

And of course, the going on about lice always amuses me. Obviously those writers have never experienced the Lice War of primary school. As a battle hardened veteran, let me assure you that lice are with us today. The only thing that gets rid of them is the old fashioned combing combined with conditioner. Been there, done it. Tried everything. My scalp still crawls when anyone mentions them.
I won't mention rats but been there and done that as well. Rats scurrying over your feet is not fun. It is hubris to think that these things only existed back then.

If someone has never experience electricity, will they not think candlelight bright? It is all in the perception of the thing. What would the historical perception of an incident be?

When a spectator went to see a gladiatorial match, did he or she really give much thought or notice the blood? A long time ago when I went to the Spanish bullfight in Arles (in the Carmague -- traditional bullfighting does not include the killing of the bull), I noticed that the ritual killing was very different. The thought is absolutely horrific -- seeing a man gored by a bull, only to return leg bandaged and kill the next bull. The dead carcass of the bull was dragged around the area to the sound of loud cheers. Gruesome and shocking, yes, but on that sunny afternoon, somehow thrilling.
When I was writing the scene in Gladiator's Honour , I thought about that bullfight and how one can capture the whole thing. What would the reaction of the spectators been? Why was it so popular?

I also remember my high school English teacher who said that sometimes, things are more horrific for being offstage and simply alluded to -- for example the putting out of eyes in King Lear. It would not have been as powerful if it happened on stage.

For me as a writer , I have to weigh up my general audience and would certain images add or detract in the story. In other words, I know the dirt is there, but I may chose to take my camera shots from other angles. I only have a limited number of words to tell my story, and I like to look at a glass being half-full.