novel – Page 8 – Wayne Turmel

A P Martin and WW2 Intrigue- Code Name Lazarus

While I can’t think of any time period that’s been better documented than the Second World War, there are still stories to be told. Today’s interview is with A P (Paul) Martin, who shares the story of a British student who becomes a spy at the outbreak of the war. The new novel is Codename Lazarus, the Spy Who Came Back From the Dead.

So who is A P Martin, and why do we care?

I’m an Anglo-Swiss academic who retired in 2013 to live with his wife in the

Bernese Alps in Switzerland. I’ve always read a great deal of fiction and for the last couple of years I’ve really enjoyed writing my first novel. I’ve found the whole experience a lot of fun and very rewarding, though not, so far, financially! (Editor’s note… we feel ya.) It’s amazed me how ideas and solutions to plot and writing problems can pop into my head when I’m hiking up a mountain. Good job a writing pad and pencil are always in my pocket!

What’s the book about?

Codename Lazarus is basically a spy story and its principal action takes place between 1938 and 1940. It concerns a young academic, who is approached by his university mentor to play the lead role in a daring plan to deceive Britain’s enemies in the run up to and first years of the Second World War. Without giving too much away, I can say that, as the plot unfolds he not only finds himself in frequent danger, but also his past comes back to threaten him in a completely unexpected way. So the book weaves together conflict and betrayal at the national and personal levels.

I’m a sucker for a good spy story. What inspired you to write this one?

Actually, having grown up in post war Britain and having had a father and uncles, all of whom fought in the Second World War, I’ve always been interested in that period. I also speak German fluently and really like both Germany and its people. But I must say that what inspired me to write the novel was the true story, from which it has been adapted. As soon as I read about this case, in the files released in 2014 by the British National Archive, I knew it would make a great basis for a gripping story.

Of course, my work is fictional, rather than an accurate account of the case, but I hope that I have paid some sort of tribute to the real heroes of the true story. In fact, I was very happy to learn recently that one of the journalists who wrote about the original file release in 2014 is now planning to publish a historically accurate account of the case in 2018. He’s even bought my book to see what I made of the case!

Do you have a favorite scene?

I’m not sure that I can pick a favourite scene or event, but I would like to say that what pleases me greatly is how the plot gathers momentum as it progresses and how its various threads come together at the end in what I think is a very satisfying conclusion. Reviewers have said that they’d have liked more and I’m taking that as a compliment!

Those who are interested in finding out more about myself, Codename Lazarus and the actual wartime case that inspired it are invited to look at my website : www.apmartin.co.uk

It is possible to leave comments and greetings on each page of my website and I’d love to hear directly from readers! I can also be followed on Twitter as @APMartin51

Codename Lazarus is currently available as an ebook only via Amazon Kindle, though it will be released on all other platforms in mid October. It’s also available now as a paperback from Amazon.

Irish Intrigue–L D Beyer

The “Troubles” in Ireland make for great drama. As someone whose maternal relatives are “Scots-Irish” (a lovely way of saying Orange as hell) I have mixed feelings about the whole thing, but it’s not my fight, and a good story is a good story. That’s where L D Beyer comes in. He doesn’t always write Historical Fiction, but in this case it’s a good one: The Devil’s Due.

Okay, so what’s your story?

I like to think of myself as a reformed corporate drone who, after twenty-five years of missed family events, one day rose up and reclaimed my soul. Before I escaped, my career primarily involved relocating my family every few years—so much so that my kids began to secretly suspect that we were in the Witness Protection Program. I have yet to set the record straight.

I’m the author of three novels, two of which are part of the Matthew Richter

LD Beyer, man of mystery and author of an exciting tale of the IRA

Thriller Series. My first book, In Sheep’s Clothing, was published in 2015 and reached the #1 spot on three separate Amazon bestseller lists.

I’m an avid reader and, although I primarily reads thrillers, my reading list is somewhat eclectic. You’re more likely to find me with my nose in a good book than watching TV.

I live in Michigan with my wife and three children. In addition to writing and reading, I enjoys cooking, hiking, biking, working out, and the occasional glass of wine.

So what’s The Devil’s Due about?

A country at war. A man on the run. A woman left behind. Can an innocent man ever go home?

Guilty of a crime he didn’t commit, IRA soldier Frank Kelleher flees through the streets of war-torn Ireland with both the British and the Irish Republican Army trying to put a bullet in his head. He makes his way to America under an assumed name and with a forged passport, as the war in Ireland rages on. Settling in a new land, he finds he can’t let go of his past. Haunted by the fiancée he was forced to leave behind, by the deaths of three friends at his own hand, and by the country he was forced to abandon, Frank struggles to make his way in 1920s New York.

As much as he can’t let go of Ireland, he finds that Ireland can’t let go of him—and his past has a way of finding him, thousands of miles and an ocean away. He dreams of going home, but knows that it could get him killed. Then an anonymous letter brings news about his fiancée Kathleen and he realizes that he no longer has a choice. A cease-fire is declared and Frank sails home with dreams of finding Kathleen, putting his past behind him, and starting a new life.

When he arrives, he learns that the Ireland he was hoping to find—a united people finally free—was only a dream. With British soldiers withdrawing, long-standing feuds resurface, and Ireland is pushed to the brink of civil war. As tensions mount, he also learns that his sins will not be easily forgiven, and that he and Kathleen will never be safe until he clears his name.

If the looming war doesn’t kill him, trying to right the wrongs of his past just might.

So what is it about this time period that grabs you?

The story is based loosely on family legend for my grandfather who served in the Irish Republican Army during the War for independence. Growing up, I heard the stories of how he had been forced to flee Ireland below a false passport because both the British and his own comrades in the IRA had put bounties on his head. Like most legends, I’m sure this one grew over time and with each retelling, especially when my Irish uncles were drinking! I spent some time in Limerick and Dublin, meeting with researchers and historians and I was happy to learn that while my grandfather had indeed served in the IRA, the circumstances surrounding his decision to emigrate after the war were not quite as dramatic as the legend would have you believe.

Exaggerated or not, though, I always thought the legend made for a great story line!

Without giving away spoilers, what’s your favorite scene or event in the book?

The Devil's Due available in Kindle and Paperback — The Devil’s Due available in Kindle and Paperback

I really like the first three scenes because they set the stage for the drama that unfolds.

Unjustly accused of being a traitor by his own friends and facing an almost certain death, Frank Kelleher manages to escape before the executioner’s bullet finds him. When he learns that the enemy is hunting him too, he sees his options quickly slipping away. Suddenly a fugitive, he faces a brutal choice: stay and die or leave everything that he knows and treasures behind. But can he give up his name, his country, his dreams and the woman he loves? And what awaits him if he does?

Where can people find you and your book ?

Readers can find The Devil’s Due and my other books on Amazon and Goodreads and I do share my views of the world on the occasional Facebook, Twitter or blog post. You can find out more by clicking the links below, they’ll take you directly to his pages:

The Devils Due on Amazon:

Goodreads:

Facebook:

Twitter (@ldbeyer):

Website: http://ldbeyer.com/

19th Century Scottish Mysteries with Lexie Conyngham

One of the beauties of historical fiction is finding yourself in a different time and place and totally making yourself to home. Just like in life, that rarely involves huge battles and famous people, sometimes you’d just like to live in a time when people don’t tread across your yard staring at their phones while looking for invisible creatures. A good writer can make you feel at home anywhere, even in a Scotland older than Sean Connery.

Lexie Conyngham, What’s the deal on you and the Letho of Murray series?

A very old photograph of Lexie Conyngham, apparently

I’m a historian living North East Scotland, in the shadow of the Highlands. My Murray of Letho novels are born of a life amidst Scotland’s old cities and universities and hidden-away aristocratic estates, but I’ve been writing since the day I found out that people were allowed to do such a thing.

Beyond teaching and research, my days are spent with wool, wild allotments and a wee bit of whisky – and I’m fitting this interview in after a morning baking multiple batches of muffins for a church sale! (Editor’s note… that may be the single most Scottish sentence written since Robbie Burns declined killing that mouse.)

In a nutshell, what’s Death in a Scarlet Gown about?

It’s set in 1802. St. Andrews in Fife, an ancient Scottish university, is
wracked by murder. A vindictive professor, an uncouth student, and a man seeking ministry lie dead, but who wanted to kill them? Charles Murray, a student with enough problems of his own, is drawn into the mystery, where neither innocuous accidents nor good friends are all they seem. Death in a Scarlet Gown is the first in the Murray of Letho series, set in Georgian Scotland.

As a graduate of St. Andrews myself, I loved going back through the history of
that little grey town by the cold North Sea which its alumni miss so much.
Though the university is much bigger now, the centre of the town has not really
changed much in two hundred years! The later books are mostly set in Edinburgh and other parts of Fife, and in one case my hero heads off for India, but in the next Murray book I hope once again to return to St. Andrews (which of course is an excuse for a ‘research’ visit).

Whatever you have to tell yourself, Lexie. What is it about this time period that fascinates you?

I was living in Edinburgh when I first started to write the series, and working
in Edinburgh’s New Town which is a Georgian architectural wonderland. I’d had a Georgian dolls’ house when I was a teenager for which I tried to make furniture, and the styles and fashions had always fascinated me. When I started to look into the people of the period I was hooked: think somewhere between Jane Austen, Walter Scott and (the much-later of course) Dorothy L. Sayers for culture and manners. There was so much going on, too: the Napoleonic Wars, the aftermath of the Jacobites, massive advances in science and medicine, the British involvement in India, the madness of King George III: there’s almost too much!
Without spoilers, what’s one of your favorite scenes in the book?

About halfway through there’s a nice little fist fight, which like all

Death in a Scarlet Gown is the latest in the Murray of Letho series. — Death in a Scarlet Gown is part of the the Murray of Letho series.

unprofessional fist fights does not go smoothly. Writing action scenes doesn’t
come naturally to me, and I greatly admire those who can convey the detail of a
fight without losing the force of the action, but I think this one went quite
well in the end. Though the conflict is based on a massive misunderstanding, it
says a good deal about the characters involved without much in the way of
dialogue, and is, I hope, also quite funny, though I don’t generally do much
slapstick! I prefer one-liners. There’s one terribly sad scene, too, and while I
was quite pleased with it, it is too sad to be a favourite. It still makes me
cry.

Where can people find you and the Murray of Letho series?

Where can people find you and your book (links to Amazon page, Goodreads,
Twitter, Blog whatever)
You can find the books on Amazon

on Smashwords:

and on Kobo:

I have pages on Goodreads and Facebook:

Find my blog at www.murrayofletho.blogspot.co.uk, and there’s a Pinterest page
for each book in the series, too: https://uk.pinterest.com/lexieconyngham/

Tales of WW2 Italy from Pamela Allegretto

Sometimes you run across people who are just so darned talented in so many ways and has such a seemingly cool life it seems quite unfair to the rest of us mere mortals. Pamela Allegretto is one of these folks.

Pamela Allegretto is the polymath author of Bridge of Sighs and Dreams

She was educated at L’Università per Gli Stranieri in Florence, Italy, lives in Connecticut and divides her time between writing, painting, and translating. In addition to the new historical novel: Bridge of Sighs and Dreams, Her published work includes dual-language poetry books, translations in Italian literary journals, articles in local newspapers and on-line websites, CD covers, and cartoons. Her original art is collected worldwide. If it wasn’t for her habit of sending emails in comic sans, I wouldn’t believe she’s mortal.

I, on the other hand, managed to feed Byron, my cockatiel, without spilling any seeds on the rug this morning. Not in the same league at all.

In a nutshell, what’s the book about?

Nazi-occupied Rome sets the stage for Bridge of Sighs and Dreams, where the lives of two women collide in an arena of deception, greed, and sacrifice.

While political cartoonist Angelina Rosini channels her creativity into the art of survival for herself and her daughter, Lidia Corsini quenches her greed by turning in Jews to the Nazis. Lidia’s spiral into immorality accelerates as swiftly as the Jewish population dwindles; and soon not even her husband, her son, nor Angelina is immune to her madness.

What is it about that period or character that intrigued you and motivated you to write about it?

While growing up, I always hated listening to jokes about the Italians going into World War 2 with their hands raised. This was not at all the case, and I wanted to point out the bravery of the Italian population during this horrific time. Although Bridge of Sighs and Dreams is fiction, It is based on real events. I felt compelled to write a war novel in which the women don’t play the role of wallpaper or objects of amusement to soldiers and politicians. The women in Bridge of Sighs and Dreams take center stage in a behind the lines battle between good and evil.

Without giving away spoilers, what’s your favorite scene or event in the book?

Oh boy, asking an author what’s her favorite scene in a book is like asking a mother to name her favorite child. I suppose writing my antagonist, Lidia, affected me most. To think that such an immoral character lurked somewhere in my psyche was more than a little unsettling. And the idea that I actually enjoyed getting into her head and writing her odious words and deeds, well…

Where can people find you and your book?

You can read more about my book at: http://www.pamelaallegretto.com

Visit my Facebook Author page

Bridge of Sighs and Dreams is available for purchase in paperback and eBook at: AMAZON:

BARNES & NOBLE:

GOODREADS

Colin Falconer Interview- A Great Love of Small Proportion

I discovered years ago when doing my management podcast that the internet makes it easy to reach out to people you respect and admire. Just hit “send.” Some answer, some don’t. Well, when I decided this blog would focus on historical fiction, there’s one person I really wanted to get to know (in an internet, “hey he answers my emails” kind of way): Colin Falconer.

His stuff is fast paced and just fun. You can read my review of his latest book, A Great Love of Small Proportion, in the previous post. Here’s a little bit of my interview with him.

So, for those who don’t know, what’s the Colin Falconer story?

I was born in North London, and spent my school years playing football or looking out of the window wishing I was somewhere else.

Falconer's latest romantic adventure set in Reconquista Spain. — Falconer’s latest romantic adventure set in Reconquista Spain.

I’ve been a writer most of my working life, I have over 40 books in print (Blogger’s note: just when you start feeling good about your level of productivity, this guy comes along), I’ve started publishing indie books as well over the last 3-4 years. My books have been translated into 23 languages.

I travel a lot to research my novels and the quest for authenticity has led me to run with the bulls in Pamplona, pursue tornadoes across Oklahoma and black witches across Mexico. As well as to the Alhambra in Granada, of course, for my latest novel.

The little touches shine through, to be sure. In a nutshell, what’s the new book about (if you can remember because you’ve probably cranked out 3 more since Tuesday)?

A GREAT LOVE OF SMALL PROPORTION is set in Spain at the end of the Reconquista. Diego Sanchis is Seville’s most brilliant painter – but he’s also ugly and a dwarf. He is also shunned because he is suspected of being a Jew.

When he paints, he can capture the beauty in people an ordinary things – yet he hates the world that so hates him. But one day his father persuades him to take on a student; Mercedes Goncalvez is beautiful, perfect. And nothing like he expects.

He can see beauty in the world – but only she sees the beauty in him. But this is the time of the Inquisition, of religious fanaticism taken to extremes … so how can this possibly come to any good?

The guiding hand in this was the question of beauty. What is it? We are all so quick to judge beauty by what we see – but what if the hero of a romantic story was not beautiful at all, but was as far from perfect as a man can be? This is the question that drove the narrative for me. Mercedes does not fall in love with Diego because he is handsome, or brave, or even rich – she sees something else. Don’t we all wish for someone who sees something in us, other than what the world sees?

What is your favorite scene in the book?

Colin Falconer in yet another location, writing off his travel as a business expense.

So I suppose my favourite scene is when she finds the paintings he has hidden from her. I like the sparks that fly just from the dialogue. I like what they don’t say as much as what they do say. And I like how she sees through him, and how the dialogue sparks from how he knows that, and he loves it and he hates it at the same time.

Here’s where I accuse you of being a shameless romantic. Where can people learn more about this book and your other work?

A GREAT LOVE is published on May 10 and you can order it here – and after May 10 it’s available for purchase. You can find me on Facebook right here at colin.falconer.779 and my webpage is colinfalconer.org – I blog twice a week so it’s quite lively.

Acres’ Bastard- coming soon

Acre’s Bastard- Exciting new historical fiction from the best-selling author of

“The Count of the Sahara”

The Holy Land in 1187.

10 year old Lucca Nemo is an orphan on the streets of Acre, the Kingdom of Jerusalem’s most corrupt city. A simple prank goes horribly wrong, and catapults him into a terrifying world of spies, violence and political intrigue that ends in battle at the Horns of Hattin.

Author Wayne Turmel blends heart-pounding action, human drama and sly humor in this exciting tale set during the Second Crusade.

My friends and I were famous, if that’s the word, as The Lice. We were small, annoying, and constantly in someone’s hair. Berk was Turkish, Fadil and Murad were Syrian—supposedly converted Saracens—which is why they were allowed to live in town. They all had parents, or at least a mother, that they constantly disappointed.

Then there was me. Shorter and skinnier than my friends, and a year or so younger. My parentage, or at least what I knew of it, was written all over my brown, sharp face. At first glance I seemed purely Saracen; dark brown skin and a long beak of a nose, but my green eyes showed the other half of the tale. Depending on which story you believed, my mother was either a Syrian whore got with child by a Frankish Knight, or a pure, innocent Frank woman, dishonored by a pillaging Mussulman. The idea that my parents might have actually liked each other and wanted me never seemed to be part of the tale.

I preferred to think of my mother as a whore, giving me a claim to the ruling class by virtue of my father’s nobility, because of course he had to be noble if he was really a knight. Whatever the truth, their union left me with the best—or worst, depending on who told the story—features of each.

Coming in the Fall of 2016 to Amazon.com

To receive a personalized publication announcement, leave us your email address by filling out the contact form by clicking this link

Radio Interview with InPrintWriters

A lot of writers don’t like doing publicity for their books. Not my problem–I’m a shameless media ho. I particularly enjoy radio shows and podcasts.

Louise Brass listens to be babble about writing The Count of the Sahara — Louise Brass listens to me babble about writing The Count of the Sahara

Louise Brass , author of “Presenting Pauline: I Was a Dancer” (blessings upon her) invited me to speak to the InPrintWriters group and then sit for an interview on WBOM Radio. You can take a listen below. We talk about

Why Byron de Prorok would make a good Kardashian
How research at the Logan Museum was both a gift and a joy
Why working with TheBookFolks is a sign how publishing is changing
Why The Three Musketeers ruined me forever (and swords are still way cooler than guns)

Take a listen. Hope you enjoy it.

The Roaring 20s With Johann Laesecke

There are some fun comparisons between author Johann Laescke and myself. Both of us have written a ton of non-fiction and business stuff before tackling our first novels, both our debut novels take place in the 1920s and have a passing (or more than passing) connection to Hollywood. We tackled the novels partly because our spouses were tired of us talking about it. Also, there is a high level of smart-ass in what we write. If you enjoyed The Count of the Sahara, you’ll probably dig his work. Figured it was high time to introduce you to him…..

So what’s the Johann Laesecke story?

Writing novels came late in life for me. For a very long time I thought that I could

Author Johann Laesecke wearing a hat frighteningly similar to mine

write a book and must have said it too many times because the love of my life felt she had to tell me to “Stop talking about writing a book and start writing it!” She added a couple more descriptive words that I have left out of the quote, but I immediately recognized her wisdom and her exasperation that was vented at me in the directive. A few years later, after writing or partially writing five novels that I regarded at the time as hopeless failures, my inner muse (named Laure) began relating The Roaring Road storyline to me. Previous writings included business books and research papers, software design process books, training manuals, project proposals and other exciting dustbin trivia. Today, I am writing the third book in The Roaring Road series, and have found that all of those first five hopeless failure novels might yet come to life with a careful application of lessons learned.

Well, having a name for the voice in your head is certainly a start. What’s the series about?

Dan Lindner, a young sheba-chaser and fan of the late film star Wallace Reid is grabbed by thugs and taken to the local mob chief, who threatens him with dire consequences if he doesn’t undertake an unusual mission. Seeing no way out he reluctantly decides to go but his new flapper girlfriend Laure leaves him, thinking he is joining the mob. With his German Shepherd Dog named Raider (aka The Road Trip Dog) Dan begins his journey on the roaring road from his home village of Long Grove Illinois, driving a prototype Duesenberg Model X to the Wine Country of Napa and Sonoma.

Book 1 The Road West is the story of Dan, Laure and Raider’s adventures on their way to California and up to the time they begin their return to Long Grove. The young couple must contend with road bums, prison escapee bank robbers, a corrupt sheriff, Laure’s father who catches up with them, and a gang hired to take Laure back to the Chicago crime boss’s son who has become both enraptured and enraged with her. Dan undertakes to rescue Laure from a rustbucket ship on the rough San Francisco waterfront. Seeking a few days of fun before their return journey from Napa to Chicago, Dan and Laure take a trip to Hollywood, meeting silent era film stars like Douglas Fairbanks, W.C. Fields, Buster Collier, Alice White and Billie Dove. They also make friends with sexy Louise Brooks, who devises a prank that succeeds and delivers major unintended consequences reverberating through the series. Spiced with speakeasy visits and served with Napa wine to make a thrilling road trip tale. “What Could Possibly Go Wrong?”

OOOOOH, extra points for use of “sheba-chaser.” I know why I enjoy reading about the 20s, but what is it about this time period that you find so fascinating?

The nation was still recovering from World War I when the Eighteenth Amendment made Prohibition the law of the land and the Nineteenth Amendment gave women the right to vote. Young women who had been trapped in the strict social mores of the early 1900s seized their new freedoms and ran with them. Lois Long, flapper and reporter for The New Yorker magazine in 1925 wrote “All we were saying was ‘Tomorrow we may die, so let’s get drunk and make love”. Many of the citizens who publicly wanted Prohibition found that gangsters had stepped in to provide them with the booze they secretly sought. Other factors included the explosion of automobile ownership and road travel in the 1920s, stories from writers like F. Scott Fitzgerald, and the burgeoning popularity of the movies (aka ‘flickers’). Law enforcement struggled to catch up with the wildly profitable organized crime mobs. It was wild times for everyone and I weaved each of these catalysts into the story.

Volume 1 of the Roaring Road Series: The Road West

I admit to have fallen in love with Dan and Laure. They are young and initially naive but thrown into situations where they learn to respect, trust and rely on each other while becoming best friends and falling in love. But this is not a romance book. It is a hard-edged sexy historical fiction thriller, spiced with mayhem and humor influenced by my exposure to W.C. Fields, Rocky and Bullwinkle and Gary Larson’s The Far Side comics.

Without spoilers, what’s your favorite scene in the book?

The event that really begins the adventure and mayhem is when Dan meets Laure. I had a lot of fun writing that scene. Reading it still makes me laugh. There’s another scene related to that, but sorry, no spoilers!

Where can we learn more?

The Roaring Road website: www.theroaringroad.com includes the Road Trip Dog Blog.

Twitter: @johannlaesecke

Facebook: Johann C M Laesecke

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/RoadTripDog

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0155AE5XW

Wayne Grant- Robin Hood, Viking Lads and Rampaging Welshmen

I am a sucker for any time period with swords, arrows and buckles being swashed. No big surprise, then, that I really enjoyed Wayne Grant’s “Saga of Roland Inness” series. It takes place during the same time period as Robin Hood, the Third Crusade and various unending wars in Wales. What’s not to like?

So what’s the Wayne Grant story?

I grew up in a small cotton-farming community in Louisiana and escaped the cotton patch by going to West Point. After graduation, I spent five years in the US Army during the post-Vietnam, Cold War period, stationed in West Germany and later, South Korea. I later went on to a civilian career in government, including a senior position in the Pentagon during the Reagan years. I’m retired from that world now and have been writing full time for the past two years. I live in Raleigh, NC with my wife and have two grown sons.

So what’s the series, and in particular your first entry, “Longbow” about?

Longbow is the first book in a four book series (The Ballad of Roland Inness) that follows fourteen year old Roland Inness as he comes of age in 12^th century England, where the Normans maintain a tight grip on their subjects. Roland tries to feed his starving family by poaching a deer on the Earl of Derby’s land, which brings down disaster on his family, as his father is killed by the Earl’s son and Roland is forced to become a fugitive.

Roland manages to elude capture with the aid of a strange monk named Tuck and ultimately finds refuge with a gruff Norman knight. Sir Roger de Laval recognizes the boy’s skill with a longbow and other qualities that make Roland valuable as a squire. Roland hates the Normans for killing his father, but comes to recognize through his new master that not all Normans are tyrants. This is a story about vengeance, but also a tale of courage, and loyalty and family—all played out in a world of violence and intrigue.

I was corrupted early by Errol Flynn (that’s what she said…. sorry couldn’t help myself) what’s your excuse? What is it about that period you find so entertaining?

Longbow actually began fifteen years ago as a serial story for my two young sons. I had just read a great history of the 3^rd Crusade, so when they asked me for a story, I decided to tell them a tale about a boy squire who goes on Crusade. The battles in the Holy Land and the events back in England are filled with larger-than-life characters (Richard, Saladin, evil Prince John, Queen Eleanor) that have inspired myths and legends ever since.

In a slight departure from historical fiction norms, I’ve incorporated both real and some legendary characters from that time in my story. I did not want to do a retelling of the Robin Hood legend, though Tuck and Robin are characters in my books, and so created my own hero, a young boy descended from the Viking invaders of England who has extraordinary skill with the longbow.

I don’t think it’s much of a departure, I did the same with The Count of the Sashara. It’s fun sometimes when history and pure nonsense mix, and you’ve done a good job. Without giving away the store, what’s one of your favorite scenes in the book?

Longbow, the first book in the 4-part series.

Roland witnesses Sir Roger’s daughter being taken prisoner by Welsh raiders. Millicent de Laval has not been very kind to the new squire, but Roland knows his duty, and sets out on foot after her. He uses all of his skill as a woodsman to track the girl and her captors into the wilderness of the Clocaenog forest of northern Wales.

Where can people learn more about you and your books?

You can find my books on my website www.waynegrantbooks.com,

or on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00JST7HYQ

or on Amazon UK at http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00JST7HYQ/

or on Goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8192923.Wayne_Grant

What Does It Take to Write Your First Novel? Damned If I Know, But I Talk About it Anyway

I’ve had a couple of requests to share this interview with people. My buddy, Phil Gerbyshak, interviewed me on his video podcast about how to make big changes in your life and tackle challenges like completing your first novel at age 54.

Phil Gerbyshak and I talk about what it takes to take risks in your life, like writing The Count of the Saharahttps://youtu.be/ZYsduynZIwY

Here’s the whole thing on YouTube. I hope you’ll find some inspiration and a little entertainment.

If you’re properly inspired, you can get The Count of the Sahara on Kindle or Paperback from Amazon or direct from my publisher, The Book Folks.