100 Ways To Fight The Flab by Jane Wenham-Jones

100 Ways To Fight The Flab

by Jane Wenham-Jones


We all get writers' bottom from time to time, don't we? Let's face it, any profession that involves spending most of your time sitting on said bottom whilst cramming your face with cake/chocolate/crisps/wine* is almost bound to result in a few ballast-related problems isn't it? *delete as applicable* *or not

But you can stop worrying. Jane Wenham-Jones has the answer. This book is not just a diet book. This is a diet book that will make you laugh. And we all know that laughing uses up calories. So that's good.

Jane's tips range from the sensible (eat little and often, use a pedometer to make sure you're moving enough) to the marvellously frivolous (pretend you weigh much more than you do). Jane also explains the stroke of genius which is the 'shelf' diet. You'll need to buy the book to find out what that is and how it works.

I won't be able to take up the bewildering array of fitness techniques including stairs which Jane outlines, as unfortunately I live in a bungalow. However, I will be taking her advice on all the other things I might be able to do in order to make my bottom a tiny bit less lardy.

Jane is now also running a 100 Ways to Fight the Flab Tip-writing Competition

The prize is a week at the wonderful Chez Castillon. 

So, if you want to fight the flab, there's nothing to stop you! You can buy Jane's book here.

Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger

A guest review from Lady Techie

Etiquette & Espionage

by Gail Carriger

I think I have fallen in love with a new series. This book was even better because I listened to the audiobook and Moira Quirk, the narrator, took this book to the next level for me. She was awesome! If I closed my eyes and let my imagination go it was like watching a movie. I could literally picture all of the characters. She was excellent with the different voices and I finished this book wanting to start it all over again.

Obviously, the narrator had to have good material to start with in order for this to be a great audiobook. I have to say that Gail Carriger has another winner on her hands. This was a great story. One of the best things about this Etiquette & Espionage was the characters. I loved Sophronia and Dimity, well, even Pillover, despite the fact he is study to be an evil genius. One of the most refreshing things was seeing old friend's from the Parasol Protectorate series. It was really cool seeing them as children. Actually, that was something else that made this a wonderful book, having this Steampunk era book told from the perspective of children and teens.

The mystery in the book was also interesting and it was exciting. Who knew a mystery could be so exciting without a nice, juicy murder? There was a great deal of action and it was also great to have one of my favorite settings, an academy school and this school really has a twist. I have to admit that Sophronia's family was also quite fun. One of the best things is that Gail Carriger's humor really came through in this series also. It really was much more funny than the Protectorate series and I thought it was quite hilarious, more so, on audiobook, as I read the books and listened to the audiobooks, which is a sure sign of a book being one of my favorites. 

Unfortunately, now I must play the waiting game for the next book in the series. Boy, it would be nice if she published twice a year.

Review can also be seen at LadyTechie's Book Musings

Inceptio by Alison Morton

Today, my special guest is Alison Morton, who is here to talk about her new book, Inceptio. It sounds like a fabulous book and you can find out how to get hold of a copy below. Meanwhile, over to Alison ...

Thank you very much for welcoming me to your blog, Helen.

Today, my debut novel, INCEPTIO, is published. Hooray! Three years of slog – researching, writing, and polishing – have led to this exciting moment. It’s a thriller, so it’s doubly exciting. Now, I’d like to tell you about it! But too much telling’s frowned on by Those Who Know, so let me show you…

An eleven year old fascinated by the mosaics in Ampurias (huge Roman site in Spain), I asked my father, “What would it be like if Roman women were in charge, instead of the men?” Maybe it was the fierce sun boiling my brain, maybe it was just a precocious kid asking a smartarse question. But clever man and senior ‘Roman nut’, my father replied, “What do you think it would be like?” Real life intervened (school, uni, career, military, marriage, motherhood, business ownership), but the idea bubbled away in my mind and INCEPTIO slowly took shape.

Of course, I made the classic mistake of submitting too soon, but had some encouraging replies. Several rewrites later and I’d made some full submissions, even to a US agent! I had replies like ‘If it was a straight thriller, I’d take it on’ and ‘Your writing is excellent, but it wouldn’t fit our list.’  Cue sound of grinding teeth, if it wasn’t a cliché.

I was (am!) passionate about my stories and the world I’ve imagined so I decided to self publish with bought-in publishing services. Using high quality professional backing (editing, advice, registrations, typesetting, design, book jacket, proofing, etc.), I’ve found it a fantastic way for me as a new writer to enter the market.

How is an alternate history thriller different from a normal thriller? 

Alternate history is based on the idea of “what if”? What if King Harold had won the Battle of Hastings in 1066? Or if Julius Caesar had taken notice of the warning that assassins wanted to murder him on the Ides of March? Sometimes, it could be little things such as in the film Sliding Doors, when the train door shuts and Gwyneth Paltrow’s character splits into two; one rides away on the train, the other is left standing on the platform.

The rest of the story or history of a country, from that point on develops differently from the one we know. In my book, Roma Nova battled its way from a small late fourth century colony somewhere north of Italy into a modern high tech, financial mini-state which kept and developed Roman Republican values, but with a twist. It’s really been fun working this out! The thriller story then takes place against this background. The nearest comparison would be J D Robb’s Eve Dallas Death series.

Stories with Romans are usually about famous emperors, epic battles, depravity, intrigue, wicked empresses and a lot of sandals, tunics and swords. But imagine the Roman theme projected sixteen hundred years further forward into the 21^st century. How different would that world be?

So what’s INCEPTIO about?

New York – present day, alternate reality. Karen Brown, angry and frightened after surviving a kidnap attempt, has a harsh choice – being eliminated by government enforcer Jeffery Renschman or fleeing to the mysterious Roma Nova, her dead mother’s homeland in Europe. Founded sixteen centuries ago by Roman exiles and ruled by women, Roma Nova gives Karen safety, a ready-made family and a new career. But a shocking discovery about her new lover, the fascinating but arrogant special forces officer Conrad Tellus who rescued her in America, isolates her.

Renschman reaches into her new home and nearly kills her. Recovering, she is desperate to find out why he is hunting her so viciously. Unable to rely on anybody else, she undergoes intensive training, develops fighting skills and becomes an undercover cop. But crazy with bitterness at his past failures, Renschman sets a trap for her, knowing she has no choice but to spring it...

And next? I’m working on PERFIDITAS, the second book in the Roma Nova series.

You can find INCEPTIO on Amazon UK here.  

You can read more about Alison, Romans, alternate history and writing on her blog, and on Facebook  and follow her on Twitter @alison_morton

 Thanks very much to Alison for such an interesting post.

The Blue Hour by Alonso Cueto

A guest review from Stephen Shieber

The Blue Hour

by Alonso Cueto



 

Adrian Ormache is a successful lawyer, enjoying a charmed life in Lima, Peru. When his venerable mother dies, he is forced to confront the ugly truths that lie beneath the surface of polite society.  These truths relate to Adrian's dead father, Colonel Ormache and his conduct towards the 'Shining Path' guerrillas during Peru's civil war in the 1980s.  As Adrian draws closer to his father's conduct, his whole life turns upside down and he must find a way to accommodate the ghosts of the past to ensure his future.

Cueto's prose, translated from the Spanish by Frank Wynne, confronts the horrors of war with stark beauty.  Occasionally tenses slip confusingly, but this is a slight criticism of a novel that warms and appalls by turns.  Adrian remains a sympathetic character, even when engaged in dubious action.  His attempts to heal past wounds appear to be futile, but the reader wants him to rise from the ashes of his notions of his family and find the right path in a confused world.  There are some graphic descriptions of the evils perpetrated by both sides of the war that are not for the squeamish, but there is also a sense of hope. Cueto makes it clear that 'the sins of the father' can be redeemed by his children.  

Many thanks to Stephen for this review. 

Stephen Shieber is the author of Being Normal.

Thanks to the publishers for the review copy of this book.

A Course And A Competition ...

Firstly, the lovely, talented and knowledgeable Della Galton is holding a short story writing course. Details are below. Highly recommended!

 

How to write and sell short stories with Della Galton - Saturday 9 March in Bournemouth

 

Course Content 

This course will focus on what a short story is and how you can sell it.  We will look at existing short story markets (including magazines) and up to date information on what those markets require.  We will also be looking at other paying short story markets (including podcasts) and what they require. Advice will be given on house style and how to find ideas to suit your intended market. Courses are run on an informal lecture/discussion group basis.

Time and Cost

10.00 am to 4.00 pm

£35.00

 

For more details, and to book, see Della's website.

 

Secondly, the equally lovely Jane Wenham Jones has a fabulous competition on the go at the moment to win a writing course in the Dordogne in September at the fabulous Chez-Castillon.

 

It's to celebrate her newest Wannabe Book - 100 Ways to Fight the Flab - the Wannabe Guide to a Better Bottom, which is currently out on Kindle. 

 

Full details of that are on Jane's blog.

 

I can highly recommend both Jane's teaching and Chez Castillon, so this is an amazing opportunity for someone.

 

I'll be reviewing 100 Ways To Fight The Flab on here soon, and you can read about how wonderful Chez castillon is here, and see their website here.

 

The First Cut

 

by Ali Knight

Ali Knight’s books create a great sense for the reader of not knowing quite what’s happening or where the narrative is going. When I reviewed her last novel, ‘Wink Murder’, I commented that it had kept me guessing all the way through. 

The same is true of ‘The First Cut’ although the way the story is told is very different. In ‘Wink Murder’ we had a first person narrative, whereas in this latest book we have a third person narrative from more than one perspective. So the tension and the disconcerting sense of not being sure what is real and what isn’t is created in a different, but equally effective way.

The book opens with main character Nicky discovering the murdered body of her best friend Grace. This life-changing event spirals a sequence of events that lead Nicky into deeper and deeper danger.

Nicky consequently marries Grace’s husband Greg, a decision that she may live to regret, and then gets tangled up with the young and good-looking Adam. But can she trust either of them? And who is it who’s really out to get her?

Fast-paced and genuinely scary in places, the plot will keep you guessing as AIi Knight teases out more and more strands of a complex story which takes in the colourful character’s of both Greg’s and Adam’s families and some dark events from the past that won’t let go of the present.

With this book you’ll feel the fear and almost believe you can feel the pain as Nicky undergoes both mental, emotional and physical trials, all of which are vividly portrayed.

A very enjoyable read.

Many thanks to the publisher for a review copy of this book.

Unsinkable by Dan James

 

 

 

Unsinkable by Dan James

Everyone knows what happened to the Titanic.  We’ve all seen Leornardo DiCaprio dancing with Kate Winslet, just as we’ve seen the documentaries about the lost treasures that may or may not lie at the bottom of the North Atlantic.  We all know that the pride of the White Star Line sailed into an iceberg on her maiden voyage to New York; we all know that she carried only half the number of lifeboats she needed to accommodate all the passengers. We think we all know why it happened - the lookout saw the iceberg too late for the ship to avoid it.  What Dan James’ novel, ‘Unsinkable’, asks is - what if something else distracted that lookout’s attention?

The story begins in London. Special Branch policeman Arthur Beck survives two disastrous attempts to capture a gang of anarchists who have already committed cold-blooded murders in the capital. Beck’s fellow officers lie dead, shot by a notorious Latvian terrorist, Peter Piatkow. Recovered from his own physical injuries but racked with guilt, Beck returns to work only to make a wrong decision that costs more innocent lives.  Beck can take no more; he decides to leave the UK and start a new life in America.  He buys himself a first class ticket on the Titanic.

Martha Heaton, an American journalist, also boards the ship.  She has been sent by her paper to report on the rich and famous amongst the passengers, but she is desperate to prove herself a serious writer - she needs a big story to impress her editor.  

James’ third character is Sten-Ake Gustafson, an old Swedish sailor travelling to the US to see his grandchildren before his cancer kills him.

Beck, Martha and Sten-Ake have little in common, but they are brought together when Beck spots a man who could be Piatkow boarding the ship at Cherbourg.  Martha wants the story; Beck wants Piatkow; Gustafson just wants a quiet life, but they will all be drawn into Piatkow’s attempts to escape justice.

Dan James has written a novel that manages seamlessly to combine fact and fiction.  The well-known details of the ship’s voyage - her departure from Southampton, the arrogant pride of her owners, the riches of the wealthy, the hope of the emigrants in steerage - are all here, but interspersed are little gems of information that bring the story to life - the Jesuit trainee priest who takes photos of the ship before he disembarks at Queenstown (Father Francis Browne’s photos provide some of the last surviving records of Titanic), the novelty of the Marconigrams that allow passengers to send messages to family and friends.  The characters of J Bruce Ismay, Managing Director of the White Star Line, and his captain, Edward Smith - the former self-confident and ultimately self-serving, the latter serious and hard working - are as well drawn as those of Martha and Beck - she reckless, determined, an independent woman making her way in a new age, he equally determined but past caring about his own survival, a man embittered by his past and the loss of his colleagues. James’ writing makes it as easy for us to identify with Martha’s joie de vivre as with Beck’s cynicism; we find ourselves rooting for both of them.

As the ship sails into dangerous waters, Gustafson, the old sailor, opens a porthole; experience tells him that ice is all around, so why is Titanic gaining speed?  Meanwhile Beck finally tracks Piatkow down - but will he be able to apprehend him?  It is late at night on 14th April 1912; Beck chases his prey onto the bridge.  What follows next may or may not have changed the course of history.

‘Unsinkable’ is an exciting, well-told, story that never drags.  James (the pseudonym of Dan Waddell) is an experienced journalist and writer, who knows how to keep us turning the pages.  He has done his research, and the details of life on board the most opulent liner in the world, and her disastrous end, are fascinating - but there are never too many; unlike some novels, Unsinkable avoids reading like a history lesson. The Houndsditch Murders and the Siege of Sidney Street did, of course, really happen, but I for one knew little about them before reading this novel.  The only thing I didn’t like about this book was the cover, which reminded my daughter of ‘20,000 Leagues Under The Sea’ and me of Jacques Cousteau.

An excellent read, and one that brings the events of that ‘night to remember’ alive for a new generation.

Reviewed by Rosemary Kaye