Ally – Page 32 – A. L. Lester

Fiona Glass: The Strange Case of the Superfluous Sword

Fiona Glass is here today with a post about archaeology and her new release Trench Warfare. It’s a subject particularly close to my heart because in a previous incarnation I was an archaeologist. And I also remember doing work-experience with a County Archaeologist called Steve; and Mick Aston from the Time-Team was very kind to me when I was writing my dissertation. Take it away, Fiona!

Thanks so much to Ally for letting me waffle on about my latest book. I’ll start by saying that one of my favourite TV shows of all time has to be the Channel 4 archaeology series Time Team, which ran for the best part of 20 years from 1994 to 2014. Each episode featured a new site for the team to investigate, and they were always given “just three days” to answer a series of questions, typically ‛how old is it?’, ‛how big was it?’ and ‛is there anything unusual about it?’. The sites ranged from Prehistoric caves to Victorian industrial sites, and pretty much everything in between, and almost all the programmes were both informative and absolutely fascinating.

One episode stood out amongst all the rest for being unique, and even a little odd. I can’t remember every detail now, but I do remember that there was a magnificent discovery (which may well have been the sword referred to in this post’s title). The only trouble was, the team’s experts were thoroughly unconvinced the discovery was genuine: it was the wrong artefact in the wrong stratigraphy at the wrong time. They couldn’t openly say so, though, without accusing the land owners of fraud, so it was left very open-ended – and very intriguing.

Straight away this suggested all sorts of plot bunnies, and I used one of them to write a short story called ‛Trench Warfare’- but substituting a gold cross for the sword. The story also featured a sweet m/m romance between an archaeologist and his assistant, and was published in the gay romance magazine Forbidden Fruit. And then I sort of forgot about it.

Recently I re-discovered it lurking in a file, dug it out, dusted it off, and realised it would work just as well as a book. I’ve added a lot of extra material, including a whole sub-plot about a ghost and lots more back-story about the characters, including County Archaeologist Steve, right-hand-man Jon, and devious businessman Paul. It fought back every inch of the way (I swear I’m never using the word ‛warfare’ in a book title again!) but I finally finished it to my own satisfaction, and published it at the end of May.

The result is an ultra-sweet, no-sex, plot-heavy romance involving a rescue dig to find a town’s missing priory before the local developers build a swanky apartment block. There’s also a set of mysterious stairs, something nasty lurking in the undercroft, and of course, that out-of-place gold cross. You’ll have to read the book to see just how that contributes to the overall story – but I’m hoping you’ll have a riotous time finding out!

Buy Trench Warfare, £2.99 / KU

An Excerpt from Trench Warfare

‛This one?’ Jon tapped it with his trowel.
Before I could reply the stone tapped back. Or at least, that’s what it sounded like. Three more taps, fainter and more muffled, coming from underground. I looked at Jon and Jon looked at me; a kind of unspoken question-and-answer passed between us and with a lift of his eyebrow he tapped again.
One-two-three.
A pause.
Then fainter, more muffled, one-two-three.
‛An echo?’ Jon’s voice was rough; what I could see of his face under all the hair was pale.
‛Must be. It could be a well-shaft. They’d have needed water, and we haven’t found one yet.’
‛True, although there’s the stream…’ He didn’t even finish the sentence. The tapping had sounded again. This time Jon hadn’t tapped first. And there were more than three.
Tap-tap-tap; tap-tap-tap. Tap.
It sounded, weirdly, like Morse code. But that was ridiculous. There could hardly be a transmitter down there, let alone anyone to operate it. It must be the well. We’d probably disturbed some smaller stones, and they were falling down the shaft and echoing. That was all. Except that it wasn’t all. Not by a long way. The tapping started again, and this time it wasn’t Morse, or any kind of code, but a frenzied jag of sound like someone beating, pounding, to be let out. And then the stone began to move.
‛What the fuck?’ Jon leaped back as though someone had poured scalding water on his legs.
I wasn’t far behind. We stared at each other; my heart was pounding and I could feel sweat prickling on my brow. Fight or flight, they call it, and I’d have given a lot to fly right out of that trench. Or to grab Jon and hang on. But my feet seemed locked to the ground. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t get out. I couldn’t get out, and the stone was working itself loose. And whatever was underneath it would overwhelm me and drag me back down to—
‛Steve? Steve! Come quickly!’
Concrete feet or not, I jumped at that. But this was no ghostly presence; it was coming from the other side of site. And it sounded hoarse.
Jon took my elbow and hoisted me out of the trench, and then I reached a hand down and hauled him out. We stood for a moment, eyeing each other. I still wanted that hug, but couldn’t ask. It wouldn’t be fair on him when he wasn’t that way inclined. I laughed nervously instead, trying to work out if what I’d seen was a normal, natural force or something else.
‛Steve!’ Ben, the shorter of the Flowerpots, appeared round the corner of the site hut, panting as though he’d been running and waving his arms around. ‛Are you there? You have to come.’
Whatever was under that moving stone would have to wait. My first thought was that there’d been yet another disaster. We’d had burglary, fire, stones that moved by themselves and threats; what was next? And was this what Paul had meant by accidents? I dropped my trowel and ran, aware of Jon at my heels.
Ben had already turned back. By the time I caught up he was standing near the garderobe trench, staring at a heap of soil. Next to him stood Bill, a spade still in one hand. He too was looking down. My heart rate hitched up a notch again. Please God, don’t be a dead body. That would be the worst. The delays, the police involved, the paperwork, even for something that was hundreds of years old. But then I saw Ben’s face. His eyes gleamed with excitement, but it was happy excitement, not dread. I breathed again. ‛What’s with all the shouting? What’s going on?’
‛Oh, you know, just your average chance discovery.’ Bill indicated with one corner of his spade. ‛And it’s only fucking gold.’

You can find ‛Trench Warfare’ on Kindle for only £2.99 (or whatever your local equivalent is) or free on Kindle Unlimited, and I hope you have as much fun reading it as I did writing it. And if you fancy catching up with Time Team, there are various classic episodes available on YouTube, and some new, online-only programmes on the same platform.

Find Fiona

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Time Team TV programme... Tony Robinson and Professor Mick Aston.

The hardest thing about writing…

…is often idea of other people looking at it. I do realise this is absolutely counterintuitive for someone who publishes their work.

person in white shirt with brown wooden frame — Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com

Self-confidence, though.

I write under a pseudonym. Quite a few people in my Real Life ™ know about Ally (waves to those of them reading this!); but in my head, the pseudonym is a thin veneer of paper protection between the me who is trying go to Parent-Teacher meetings more often and not visit the shop in her slippers; and the me that likes to don my house-trousers at two in the afternoon and settle on the sofa to read or write queer novels featuring werewolves.

When we lived on Merseyside, we lived on a side-street just off the river Mersey itself, on the opposite side of the water to Liverpool. I am not a City Person and it was a Sacrifice For Love that I made when I was young and foolish. Mr AL has more than made up for my sacrifice by now – he found moving to the country a lot more traumatic than I found city life. In a village, if you put your washing out on the line, every single person in the vicinity will know that you have bright red BEST DAD IN THE WORLD underpants. In the city, you can’t hang your laundry out because it will absorb city-shmutz and be dirtier afterward than before you washed it. In cliche, in a village, everyone knows your business, but in the town, everyone ignores you.

So there are alleged pros and cons. I’m not sure the city/village cliche is true, though. Our city house was three stories high, with an attic window that looked across the river to the Liver Buildings, those iconic symbols of the city. They watch the big ships and the little ships go out on their adventures and welcome the sailors safely home again. That was one of the pros. As was the collection of dear friends and close family that we had within a half hour walk. The downside for me was feeling like a rat shut in a trap. For me, being on a suburban terraced street, I felt watched all the time. When you go out of the house on a suburban street of terraces, someone sees you. When you come home, someone else sees you. In your postage-stamp back yard, your neighbours overlook your Sunday afternoons. Traditionally, living in a village is supposed to be like that; but here in our village, it is more spaced out and I feel I have room to breathe. In the city, I felt squashed.

Writing is a bit like that, for me. When a new book comes out it sometimes feels as if I’m in one of those dreams where you’re standing on the village green with no clothes on and everyone is watching you—or walking out of your house in the city and the neighbours’ curtains are all twitching to see where you’re going.

This can be good! People can go Ooooh! You’ve lost weight since the last time you had this dream, how good you look! Or Yay! You’ve got to the Parent-Teacher meeting and you’re not wearing your pyjamas! Or of course they can laugh at the fact that you don’t shave your legs or your pyjamas have little unicorns on them.

I think the trick as a writer is to let both those things flow over you. It’s lovely that people like what you write. But once it’s written and in the public domain, it’s a thing on its own and you can’t let how readers interact with it affect you too much, because that way lies madness. It’s the ultimate in looking for external validation and that’s not a great mental health place to be.

So…I guess the hardest thing about writing a book for me these days is letting it go. Pushing it out the door with its lunch in a paper sack, making sure it’s got a waterproof in case it rains, waving it off on the school bus and trusting that it’ll be okay out there on its own.

Img of woman giving lunch to a child who is about to on the school bus, with books in the background.

#AmReading

This week, some sci-fi with The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal; and two gay romances, Green Tea and Pink Apples, a short, sweet contemporary from R. Cooper and the werewolfy Night Shift Series from T. A. Moore.

The Calculating Stars (Lady Astronaut Universe #1) by Mary Robinette Kowal

The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal. A Lady Astronaut Novel.

The premis of this story is that a metorite hits Earth in the 1950s. It asks the question what happens next?

It’s told from the POV of a well off, educated, married female pilot with wartime flying experience.
I found it fascinating. I was irritated on behalf of the MC by the intrangency of the male establishment in recognising the skills and experience women could bring to the operation to save the earth’s population. And I was cross about the assumptions made about their competence.

I was completely sucked in by the question of how a situation like this would have been dealt with given the tech of seventy years ago. I have always been told–and believe–that the perfect sci-fi story takes one or two aspects of life as we know it and asks what if? And this book does it perfectly.

It’s probably the only historical science fiction story I’ve ever read and I recommend it!

Green Tea and Pink Apples by R. Cooper

Another comforting read from R. Cooper, who is rapidly becoming one of my favourite writers.

This is a gentle short contemporary about two men who have known each other for years and who finally find their way toward each other. It’s a beautifully drawn picture of perfectly ordinary humanity and I loved it. Everything I read by this author makes me like their work more.

The Night Shift series by T. A. Moore

I’ve read the first two of these in quick succession this week. They’re definitely not stand alone – they both end on cliffhangers, so if that bugs you, steer well clear. I really liked the format though, it has the feel of a newspaper or TV tune-in-next-week serial that worked very well for me.

The world is a reversal of the usual small population of werewolves universe. Wolves are in the majority, and the Night Shift, where one of our MCs works, are all drawn from the twenty percent of the population who are null and stay sensible instead of changing. Wolves have no memory of the savage things they do over the nights of the full moon, which can include eating their spouse and children. Of course, our MC falls for a wolf, who is also an asshole in human form. They are thrown together in an attempt to solve police corruption, against a background of unsupportive colleagues and lots of snark.

I loved the world-building, which is steady and leaves a lot behind the scenes that is drip-fed in. I am having a mild amount of trouble suspending my disbelief about how society evolved to the point where they have mobile phones etc if most of the population are busy tearing each other apart for a few nights every month, but not to the point of it stopping me really enjoying the story!

The third one is out later this month and I’m really looking forward to it. Recommend!

That’s the lot for this time. Happy reading!

Interview: S. A. Crow

This week debut author S. A. Crow has dropped in to talk about writing, process, and their February release Into the Fire! Please give the a warm welcome!

I’m S. A. Crow a LGBTQ+ indie author. I published my first novel Into the Fire, Book 1 of The Fire Series, a romance suspense novel early this year. This novel was a bucket list item for me and I had the good fortune to take my Grandmother a signed copy on my book tour. I was named for my Grandmother and she is my first and longest role-model. I dedicated the book to her and taking it to her was a dream come true. Everything after that event has been a blessing.

What started you writing?

I grew up in an avid reading family. I was never censored on what I could read because of my age or ability. Growing up with stories made me want to read my own. I often thought of what if’s and how I would’s when reading or watching television. It was natural to include the hobby of writing from an early age. I completed my first novel in my 20’s and then promptly lost the manuscript. When our family went through a traumatic experience I found myself lost in a story again to help me get through the changes. That story became the first novel in The Fire Series.

Where do you write?

I often write on my desktop in the large living area of the house I share with my roommates and family. I recently got a tablet and a bluetooth keyboard so I can go to coffee shops when I feel safe to head out in public again. I think a lot of us feel like it’s a little daunting to be out among people again.

What do you like to read?

This is always the hardest question to answer, isn’t it. My reading choices vary as much as my music. I try to read at least one classic literature piece every year. I love the epic Fantasy Kushiel’s Legacy series. I read a lot of romance novels. True crime fascinates my psychology major mind. Historical novels and nonfiction hold a place in my heart. You can never miss a good mystery or horror novel. I’m a E. A. Poe fan and Jane Austin and I read one of theirs every year. Picking a favorite book or genre is almost impossible.

What are the three books you’d take to a desert island? Why would you choose them?

E. A. Poe’s collected works, Jane Austin’s collected works, and the Kuchiel’s Legacy. I can get everything I need from these three collections.

Writing is an intrinsically solo occupation. Do you belong to any groups or associations, either online or in the ‘real’ world? How does that work for you?

I would have never been able to publish my novel without the invaluable help from some amazing people. My three writing buddies, two of which I live with. The Heart Breathings Writing group and Writers Helping each other FaceBook group.

What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

I have two odd dogs. One is a Whippet Black Lab. mix named AJ, the other is a Border Collie Black Lab. mix named Destiny they’re both rescue puppies. They make everyday the best day with their love and happiness. I play Skyrim on the Switch and get creative with my Bullet Journal. I also have a growing collection of washi tape.

Tell me a little bit about your most recent release. What gave you the idea for it? How long did it take to write? What did you enjoy about writing it? What did you hate?

As I said before, my family was going through a traumatic experience that tossed our whole world upside down. I began watching, well, actually the show Leverage. I grew fascinated with the character Elliot (the Hitter) and the actor Christian Kane. I found it amazing that not only was he an actor he is also a singer, songwriter, and lead in his band.

That combination triggered a thought in my mind and I came up with a story with the main character who is an actor, singer, songwriter and lead in a band who falls for a chef looking for a new direction for her career.

I love the element of suspense in romance suspense. I knew right away that this was the sub genre for the book. As I began to write the story I fell in love with my side characters. I love series where you follow a connected group of people and each novel builds on their relationships. I started planning a series based off of the characters in the book. It took me 45 days to draft the novel and 5 years to get it to publication. Part of that time was sadly filled with depression. Another part was that Google held my document hostage.

Yes you heard that right. I sent the novel to a friend for her to do the line editing. She made editing changes and I went to approve them and Google told me that I didn’t own the document. I couldn’t change anything about it. I couldn’t approve any of the edits. It sent me a bit further into my well of depression. Luckily for me my editor found a way around the problem and here we are with it published.

I’m lucky in that I am one of those writers that drafts quickly. Editing is the bane of my existence. I have dyslexia so editing takes forever for me, but I have lovely friends that help me. I came close to throwing my computer out the window when I was doing the formatting and uploading of the novel.

If I have any advice for first time indie authors. Always give yourself way more time than you think you’ll need to format and upload.

Into the Fire

Book 1 of The Fire Series

Raven a chef who longs to get out of the high-pressure environment of Seattle’s high-end restaurants. It might be the career path she chose but it isn’t the right fit. While searching out a new path she happens to meet her favorite actor and gets to cook for him. Confident about her cooking and little else she finds herself falling in love with him. Is her attraction to her famous boss worth the risk of killing everything she has worked for and gained?

Travis is regretting his decision in dating his co-star Jessica and breaks things off. When he runs into Raven at a convention, he is in awe of her talent; he hires her to be his personal chef. Jaded about romance, especially after how toxic the end of his relationship with Jessica has become. Travis finds himself caring more and more for his new personal chef. But, another workplace relationship could blow up in his face again.

Raven’s life becomes endangered by Travis’ stalker, so he pushes her away for her own safety. He discovers with the help of his friends that what he feels for Raven is real for the first time. Can he get her back before it’s too late?

Can Raven and Travis escape the obsession that follows him? Can they find the courage to fight for what could be the best for both of them?

Into the Fire is the first novel in an episodic contemporary romance suspense series, following a group of friends. Set mostly in Seattle, Washington. Each novel focuses on one couple of the group. Into the Fire is the story of Raven and Travis how they meet and fall for each other while an obsession follows Travis and endangers Raven. Can they find the courage to fight for what could be the best thing for both of them?

Buy: Apple : B&N : Kobo Or Add to Goodreads

or read a preview or buy on Amazon:

Find S. A. Crow

Website : Email : Goodreads : Twitter : Facebook : Instagram : Discord server : Buy me a Coffee : YouTube

Writing Gay Mysteries Set in the 1880s: Fact or Fiction?

I’m delighted to welcome Jackson Marsh to the blog today to talk about writing his ten book Victorian series, The Clearwater Mysteries. They are complex, engrossing books that dip deep into the history of the period. Take it away, Jackson!

In 1890, when my current work in progress is set, being gay in Britain was punishable by up to two years in prison with hard labour. This came about because the Labouchere Amendment to the 1885 Criminal Law Amendment Act made ‘gross indecency’ a crime. This law stood in various forms until 1967 (1980 in Scotland), which means being gay was criminal when my romantic historical series is set.

That was one of the reasons I wanted to write The Clearwater Mysteries. Throughout the eleven books, my main characters live under the pressure of being criminals simply because they were born gay. Their love must remain hidden because it is a ‘love that dare not speak its name’, as Lord Alfred Douglass famously wrote in his poem of 1892, ‘Two Loves.’ Forbidden love was one subject I wanted to explore, but there are many others.

Inspired by Jack the Ripper

The idea for the Clearwater Mysteries began as a brain-spark. ‘What if Jack the Ripper killed rent boys?’ That idea set off ‘Deviant Desire’, the story of how, in 1888, one such street-rat renter rises from being a prostitute living in a rope house to living with a viscount. The love theme was ‘insta-love’, and it happens across the classes. The story developed based on actual events of the time (twisted to suit my world), and by the time I reached the end, I realised I hadn’t written a standalone novel as I intended, but the first in what was crying out to be a series. I have been writing the series for over two years now and am just finishing the 10^th mystery, which leaves the way open for another series set in the same world.

There’s More to Romance Novels than Love

I wasn’t only interested in writing a love story where a gay relationship crossed the class divide in Victorian Britain. I’d always wanted to write compelling mysteries, adventures and bromance, and The Clearwater Mysteries contain all those elements. Of my five main characters, four are gay, the other has had a bromance with one, and later, two more young, gay men join the ‘crew.’ The Clearwater world is a gay one for sure, and yet the word ‘gay’ didn’t even exist in that context at the time. The word ‘Homosexuality’ was only just starting to be used in the medical and psychology professions.

I realised that where Lord Clearwater and his friends were restricted by society, laws and expectations, so I was restricted by language, technology and experience. For example, it wasn’t until I’d published ‘Deviant Desire’ that I realised I couldn’t use the word ‘Okay’ because it didn’t come about until the 1930s. (I’ve since edited that, and other words, from the text.) That’s one of the things that irks me about historical fiction; authors not using time-appropriate language. I try not to write in a convoluted Victorian style unless it is how a character speaks, but there is no excuse for using words that people in 1890 would not have known. These days I’ve become adept at stopping myself and asking, ‘Can I use that word?’ The other day, I was working on ‘The Clearwater Inheritance’ when I typed the word ‘Paperwork.’ A quick check, and I discovered that word wasn’t used until 1940.

Fact + Fiction = Friction

Language is one thing; facts are another. Although ‘Deviant Desire’ is not about Jack the Ripper, what takes place is based on events of the time. I love mixing fact with fiction and using the combination to cause friction and drama between characters.

Through the series, we find ourselves backstage at the Royal Opera House, where an assassination is to take place. All the details of the stage, facilities and even the weight of the curtains are accurate. In ‘Fallen Splendour’, I use a Tennyson poem as the clue device, and one of my fictional characters meets the poet. Details about his house, appearance and works, are accurate. Later, we meet Sir Arthur Sullivan, Henry Irving and Bram Stoker and go to the Garrick Club and the Lyceum Theatre. We also break into the National Gallery as accurately as possible. The prequel, ‘Banyak & Fecks’ is the most accurately researched one of the lot, and was a joy to write.

So, there are constraints when writing historical fiction, but there is also a wealth of opportunity. All you have to do is be accurate with your language and research the hell out of everything. And that’s a fact.

The Clearwater Mysteries

The Clearwater Mysteries are an on-going series of Victorian mystery, romance and friendship set in an imaginary London of 1888-1891. The series starts with a non-mystery, historical bromance ‘Banyak & Fecks’ which should be read sometime before book nine. The 10^th mystery, ‘The Clearwater Inheritance’ is due for publication in early June.

The series is best read in order, starting with ‘Deviant Desire.’

The non-mystery prequel, ‘Banyak & Fecks’ should be read before books nine and ten.

Keep up to date with all Jackson’s news at www.jacksonmarsh.com or follow him on Facebook an Instagram

The Clearwater Inheritance

‘No one can take away your name.’

Archer Clearwater will lose his entire fortune unless he cracks a musical code.

If Archer’s insane brother dies, their distant cousin, the evil Count Movileşti, will inherit everything, and with the influenza pandemic threatening the brother’s asylum, the outlook is grave. The only thing that can ensure Archer’s future is a legal document left behind by his grandfather, but the clue to its location is hidden within two pieces of music. Archer has one; the other is in Movileşti’s collection at Castle Rasnov.

Archer dispatches two of his team to the Transylvanian castle, and two to the Clearwater Archives in London, leaving the rest to search every inch of his country house. The men face their pasts and decide their futures as loyalties are tested, and death stalks the corridors of Larkspur Hall. With Movileşti on his way to claim the inheritance, everyone has a vital part to play and everything to lose as they race against time.

Set during the 1890 Russian influenza pandemic, The Clearwater Inheritance is a mystery thriller that takes us from Cornwall to Transylvania, and from the cellars of Larkspur Hall to the Orient Express.

A mashup of romance, mystery and adventure, the tenth book ties up previous threads, answers questions, and sets the scene for the Clearwater future.

You can read an excerpt from The Clearwater Inheritance here on Jackson’s website or here on Amazon. All books available in Paperback, Kindle and KU.