So that’s the third ‘Esther and the Professor’ World War Two story nicely in existence, and it surprised me because it wasn’t until I was talking to my husband about a tragedy that’s a major part of the plot that I realised that it was part of his family history. That’s the thing about sticking as closely to the facts as I can and simply speculating about what might have happened. The history is there just below the surface, and we really did fight them on the beaches here because you can still see the gun emplacements and the dragon's teeth which were designed to delay tanks if the invasion came.
Only it wasn’t an ‘if’ for a while, it was a ‘when’ and Picture Post, which was a popular magazine, helpfully identified Poole as one of the four most likely places to be invaded, which makes me so grateful that these days our only invasions come from tourists, most of whom are very welcome, even if a tiny minority are right idiots.
People have been kind enough to be curious about how I write, so here goes. It starts with a situation, often gleaned from local news or the history of a place. Then the characters come along and then I put fingers to keyboard and let the story tell itself and accept that the characters will take over and tell their story their way and the ending quite possibly won’t be what I planned. After that, I do a second draft, and make a note of what I need to research and then let it sit for a while so I can go and do the research I need to. Otherwise, like Professor Cunningham in the Amy Hammond series, the research takes over and I’d never actually write anything.
So there are lots of books in progress, and my mind is already straying towards the next Amy Hammond, which is going to feature Corfe Castle, a reconstruction, and give more information about Peter’s past. I’ve hinted at this in the second short story about Amy and Peter in the Christmas Sampler collection that’ll be out in November, and which I’ll start paper editing later on today and, as always, I’m excited about getting to go out to play with my characters.
No new books this week, and there won’t be as many from now on because I’ve almost cleared the backlog that grew over the years when life got in the way of my dreams. But there are some on 99p and 99c deals and they are…
Sweet Revenge - An Amy Hammond Cosy mystery
A local businessman dies mysteriously at Swansmere’s activity day and suspicion turns on their newest shop keepers who make the most amazing fudge. Only Amy and Peter rapidly realise it isn’t anything like as simple as that and end up caught in a murky web of local and national politics.
3 more stories from Christians Cross - Nature Strikes Back, No Greater Love and Mistletoe and Mischief.
I really would like people to give this series a try because it’s fun. It features a virtuous vampire, a sarcastic werecat, a reluctant witch hunter cop whose younger sister is a witch, a homicidal river spirit who runs the village pub and the Archangel Michael. Apart from Michael, none of them want to have to defend the world, but they didn’t get much choice.
In these books, you’ll find the return of some old Gods, the curse of TechKnowledgy, which may explain a lot, and the spirit of Misrule escaping at Christmas. Although, as Kit wonders, how do you tell the difference between the spirit of Misrule and over-excited children?
And then there are two stand alones -
The Omega Project - Three people who’ve had a rotten Christmas are turned into reluctant superheroes and have to come to terms with their powers while just about everyone seems to want to catch them, control them and use them them as guinea pigs.
And
- A gothic vampire romantic mystery, that’d make nice Halloween and Christmas reading.
Today’s picture is of the old gun emplacement down by the remains of what I think is the Pier. Still so much to learn… and I’ll have fun doing it, then writing about it.Have a good week, and let me know what you’re up to!
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