WHOSE HOUSE? JANE CABLE TALKS TO AUTHORS MORTON S GRAY AND CAROL THOMAS

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It seems a year of lockdowns and an inability to travel has caused authors to look closer to home for inspiration. This summer is seeing a surge in books with large or stately homes as their setting and family secrets at their centre.

For Morton S Gray and Carol Thomas, both published by the award winning romance publisher Choc Lit, their similarities in setting choice only came to light when their covers were revealed. The friends, who message each other almost every day, were unaware of the coincidence but saw the funny side. With Morton writing romantic suspense and Carol writing romantic comedy they are confident their stories are very different, but I was intrigued to find out more.

Summarise your story in a single sentence

 M: Summer at Lucerne Lodge is a contemporary novel set in my fictional seaside town of Borteen about family secrets and their consequences for main characters Tanner Bryant and Rosie Phillips.

C: A Summer of Second Chances is a romantic comedy telling the story of Ava Flynn who runs a charity shop and receives a donation that unlocks secrets and passions relating to her past.

Tell us more about those stately looking homes on your covers

 M: Lucerne Lodge is an almost stately home, near my fictional seaside town of Borteen. It has a wrought-iron gate, gardens and a lake. At the start of the book there is a huge marquee on the lawn to house a charity auction.

C: Dapplebury House is a stately home that has been in the Bramlington family for generations, but with changes afoot in the village, the future of the house and its estate are in jeopardy.

The house in my book was inspired by visits to Petworth House and Uppark. I was lucky enough to visit Uppark with my dad, just before the first lockdown, we wandered through the wonderful house and gardens soaking up the atmosphere.

What inspired your story?

 M: I love writing about mysteries. I don’t plan my books, so I am telling myself the story as I write. At the beginning of Summer at Lucerne Lodge hero Tanner has found a private investigator’s file on his father’s desk about Rosie Phillips and wants to know why his father is so interested in her.

C: I volunteer in a charity shop and received a donation of a photo album. As I was checking the quality of it for resale I spotted a single photograph that had been left inside. My mind began to weave plots and possibilities from that.

Who is your favourite character and why?

M: Rosie is my favourite, because she goes through so much emotion in the course of the book. However, I liked one of my secondary characters so much – Buzz, a mystic man who runs a crystal shop in Borteen, that I’ve almost finished a novel about his story too!

C: I always love my K-9 characters but also fall a little for my hero because I think its important to feel the attraction my heroine has for him, so I’ll go with my lead, Henry Bramlington, who has to face up to his past and all that he has been running away from in order to forge the future he wants.

How can we find out more about you and your books?

M: My website is at www.mortonsgray.com, where you will also find a link to my weekly blog.

C: I love readers getting in touch and enjoy getting followers involved with my research. My contact and social media information can all be found on my website. http://www.carol-thomas.co.uk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WELSH WRITING WEDNESDAYS: INTRODUCING JUDITH BARROW

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As a child and into my teens I wrote voraciously. I wrote for competitions, wrote for the school magazine, wrote for the sheer joy of making images through words.

Then I entered the workplace; the Civil Service – where words meant facts, policies, rules – and I met my future husband.

We were young and infatuated with one another – we married – writing flew out of the window; there was no time to live in the imaginary world; we had the real world to explore, to live.

Seven years later, with three children under five, an old cottage half renovated, and my husband’s small business that took up a lot of time, we decided to get off the treadmill. At least for a fortnight.

Pre children, cottage and business, we holidayed abroad. Too expensive, too ambitious with three children we decided to go to Wales. David’s grandfather originated from Four Crosses, near Welshpool; we’d call there on our way to Pembrokeshire. Though, in nineteen seventy-eight, there was no easy route from the North of England to West Wales, it was still easier than going abroad.

And it was to change our lives.

We found a lovely big house that needed TLC – or so husband decided. We could afford it – or so husband thought. And with Pembrokeshire’s wonderful beaches for the children, how could we not put in a bid?

One cold, wet, miserable November, we moved from England to Wales.

Years passed, Husband started a new business, it flourished, the children had many hobbies, in the spirit of giving something back I was on every committee (usually as the secretary). We had two aunts living with us in the flat attached to the house (both of whom eventually developed dementia). We did a stint at B&B.

But I realised I was yearning to write again.

I hadn’t been allowed to stay on for the sixth form in school so, in my forties by now, I took my A level in English Literature, completed various creative writing courses, took a script writing/drama course at Swansea University, and started a BA degree course with the Open University. This took longer than I expected due to contracting breast cancer halfway through the course.

During those years I had short stories and poems published, a play performed at the Dylan Thomas Centre in Swansea and one play filmed.

Eventually I gained a MA degree at what was then, Trinity College, in Carmarthen.

Shortly afterwards I was asked if I would tutor some creative writing classes for Pembrokeshire County Council, under an adult Lifelong Learning Scheme. Something I’m still doing. I will be so glad to get back to the classrooms once we can carry on in ‘real’ life.

I write family sagas which crosses various genres, and, over the last twelve years, I have been published by Honno, the longest-standing independent women’s press in the UK.

I made many friends in the writing world. One of those was Jan Baynham. Although she lives some miles away, we managed to meet up to ‘talk writing’. She is one of the original members of the Cardiff Chapter, now renamed the Cariad Chapter. I became a member of the RNA. Unfortunately, I was unable to go to the meetings as they were held at the same time as I was teaching, Still, I kept in touch with all the news.

The lockdown brought many problems, one of which was keeping in touch online. Eventually I bought a new laptop to replace my ancient PC which enabled me to be on Zoom and join in with RNA and Cariad Chapter meetings, and the courses and workshops.

And who knows, one of these days I’ll be able to attend one of the Romantic Novelists’ Association conferences. Certainly something to look forward to.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joffe Books announces a crime fiction prize for writers of colour

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Joffe Books is  thrilled to announce that in conjunction with literary agent Susan Yearwood and bestselling crime writer Dorothy Koomson, they are looking for a new crime fiction writer to join our list.

The competition aims to champion authors from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds writing in one of our favourite crime fiction genres: electrifying psychological thrillers, cosy mysteries, gritty police procedurals, twisty chillers, unputdownable suspense mysteries, shocking domestic noirs . . .

Whether you are writing your crime fiction debut, previously published or self-published, if you are an unagented crime fiction writer of colour, we want to hear from you!

THE PRIZE
The winner will receive a two-book publishing contract with Joffe Books.

HOW TO ENTER
Entrants are invited to submit their full-length manuscript, written in English, along with a synopsis of the book and author biography, to: prize@joffebooks.com

The opening date for entries is 1 May 2021. The closing date for entries is 30 September 2021 23.59 p.m. GMT. No entries received after this date will be accepted.

Meanwhile, some new books from Joffe Books.

                                                                             

DON’T BELIEVE A WORD BY PATRICIA MacDONALD  99p/99c

One phone call changes everything. Eden’s mother is dead in what looks to be a murder-suicide. She wasn’t perfect, but Eden can’t believe she could be a killer. Quick turn the page.

CONSTABLE IN THE FARMYARD BY NICHOLAS RHEA  £1.99/$2.99

Chaos reigns over the north Yorkshire moors.  A motley gang of eccentrics are keeping Constable Nick busy with their outrageous antics — even though there are genuine criminals to be tracked, like the most recent bane of his existence: the phantom milk bottle thief. Can Constable Nick keep the peace while maintaining his own sanity? This, Frost Magazine readers, is something I ask myself when surrounded by my children.

And finally, .    THE ICE DAUGHTERS BY D.E. WHITE in audio

As the temperature drops, the body count rises: Firefighters race to a burning farmhouse to discover two young girls . . . alone. Their mother is gone and the dead body of a man is found. The only scrap of evidence is two chess pieces that have been left on the doorstep.

It happens again: a missing woman, a frozen body, chess pieces made of ice.  Can Detective Dove Milson put a stop to a serial killer without putting herself in danger? Listen and learn is what  Frost Magazine says.

Find  out more about Joffe Books’ inaugural Crime Writing Prize here

Find out more about Joffe Books book list here

Frost Magazine is in awe at the entrepreneurship of our British artisan outlets

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Here at Frost Magazine we are endlessly impressed by the quality and superb customer service of the artisan producers we have had the pleasure of knowing.

I caught up with Williams Handbaked again when under pressure from Dick and my own great  need to spoil myself, we totted up a list of our favourite hand baked cookies, and worked our way though the individual ordering system, rather than ordering a box hamper. At the same time, our son phoned to say he MUST order more shortbread cookies, but this time dig deep to find some control or he’ll scoff the lot in one sitting, again. One daughter dare not have them in the house until the diet is at an end. She calls them the diet destroyers.

Williams tell me they are sorting out a ‘Choose your own Box’ ordering system, which will make it an altogether quicker activity. But either way, if you have tried the box hampers, then rest assured that you can order your favourites with careless abandon. I have decided that there are no calories in any of Williams Handbaked goodies. But I am a fiction writer, which after all is one big lie, so what is another?

 

Do any of you watch Montalbano, set in Sicily, with sub titles in English?   Well,  Il commissario Montalbano (Salvo if one was being familiar, which one would so like to be) leads a police procedural, but in my mind he is my new best friend, because he  is also a glutton for fine food. So, as well as enjoying the Sicilian scenery, and the actual business of solving ‘who dun it’, please enjoy  Salvo’s sheer unmitigated pleasure in the food he devours. He will not speak when eating, he must enjoy in peace – well quite. One of his favourites is cannoli, baked by his housekeeper Adelina.  I have longed to try some.

So, when I was informed that online delicatessen  Affetto Italiano  would provide these, (what diet??) we had to try them.

Cannoli are Italian pastries that originated on the island of Sicily and consist of tube-shaped shells of fried pastry dough, filled with a sweet, creamy filling. Dick and I could not decide between chocolate, pistachio or lemon, so ordered a box of each. (We have no shame). They’re not large, three  mouthfuls, or as Dick so wisely said, ‘If you don’t want crumbs it can go in in one’. It is not, though, a good look. I repeat, no calories  – I repeat, I am a fiction writer, do not believe me.

We also ordered one of the most popular Italian filled pastries – Aragostine which are also far too delicious.

Affetto is an online Italian delicatessen based in Birmingham. It was formed in 2017 and works in partnership with a family-run producer and importer of fine Italian foods. Agostino is the director, a young entrepreneur that has kept his customer firmly in mind, much like another of Frost Magazine’s favourites:

Delicario ,  whose artisan products were delivered trouble free to the kids  in wicker hampers  at Christmas, but are available all year round, and of course, one can order individual items. The hampers went down a treat.  I must order more of their products.

I also bought cheeses from Affetto: Asiago, Percorino with black pepper, and Scamorza affumicato. Salvo would drool.

To round off our tour of well – gluttony if we’re being honest, onto another Frost Magazine favourite … Rounton Coffee Roasters where a small group of entrepreneurs have introduced Midnight Harvest. The Midnight beans from Porta do Ceu, Brazil,  have been stored in barrel aged (whisky) and let me tell you, it is pretty darned splendid. But I think aged in brandy flasks would flavour the beans just as well. I might then buy a bag of both, and their sparkling water de-caff to look less BAD.

All in all, quite frankly, and seriously,  I feel Salvo and I could sit on his balcony, after treating ourselves no end, and watch the sun go down, sipping whisky or brandy barrelled Brazilian coffee with no need of speech.

How about it, Salvo? And reply came there none.

Williams Handbacked is available here

Affetto Italiano is available here

Delicario is available here

Rounton Coffee is available here

Bad Nights and Odd Days: Greenwich Theatre presents a trio of acclaimed short plays by Caryl Churchill Wednesday 23rd June – Saturday 10th July 2021

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Bringing together a trio of short and unforgettable plays from one of the country’s most prominent playwrights, Caryl Churchill (Top Girls; A Number; Drunk Enough To Say I Love You), Greenwich Theatre are reopening once again with their first in-house production since December.

Led by acclaimed actor Paul McGann (Withnail and I; Doctor Who), Churchill’s earlier works will be brought to life for this limited season. Further casting will be announced in due course. Bad Nights and Odd Days will see Churchill’s rarely performed plays, Abortive, Seagulls, and Three More Sleepless Nights, reenergised for the stage under the direction of Artistic Director James Haddrell.

Exploring life-shattering events, a carousel of shifting relationships and the presence of psychic phenomena, this intimate collection of plays shows why it is so hard to categorise Churchill’s writing, blending the personal with the political, the naturalistic with the supernatural, the spoken with the unspoken.

Abortive highlights the strains of a married couple reeling in the aftermath of a shocking event; Three More Sleepless Nights details the everyday arguments and daily suppression of emotions; while Seagulls is Churchill’s powerful and personal allegory about losing the ability to write.

Director James Haddrell comments, We are delighted to be emerging from the last year of closure with this special collection of short plays. Caryl Churchill is undoubtedly one of the most important British playwrights of the past half century, and thanks to support from Arts Council England I am excited to be able to share some of her earliest, most rarely performed work. With special permission from Churchill herself to bring the pieces together under the title Bad Nights and Odd Days, I know that this collection of intimate, quietly heart-stopping dramas will offer a powerful, moving evening of live theatre – the kind of evening that we have all been missing so much.

Greenwich Theatre is excited to bring quality entertainment back to the area. The theatre continues to adhere to the ongoing government guidance, with social distancing potentially in place for indoor performances. Should the restrictions and circumstances change they will look to adjust accordingly.

Bad Nights and Odd Days: Three short plays by Caryl Churchill (Abortive, Seagulls, and Three More Sleepless Nights)

Dates Wednesday 23rd June – Saturday 10th July 2021 Tuesday – Saturday, 7.30pm Saturday matinee, 2.30pm

Running time 90 minutes (no interval)

Access Tickets are £26 (concessions £21) and can be purchased online at https://greenwichtheatre.org.uk/events/bad-nights-and-odddays/

Age Guidance 15+ (trigger warnings: Abortion, Rape and Suicide)

Director James Haddrell Writer Caryl Churchill Producer Greenwich Theatre Twitter @greenwichtheatre Instagram @greenwichtheatre Facebook /GreenwichTheatreLondon

Book Review: Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Sutanto – reviewer – Natalie Jayne Peeke West Country Correspondent

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ARE YOU…DEAD?’

OH MY GOD. I THINK HE IS.

When Meddy Chan accidentally kills her blind date, she turns to her aunties for help. Their meddling set her up on the date so they kind of owe her.

WELL, THAT DIDN’T QUITE GO TO PLAN.

Although hiding this goddamn dead body is going to be harder than they thought especially when her family’s wedding business has THE biggest wedding of the year happening right now.

IT’S PRETTY BAD TIMING REALLY.

It turns out the wedding venue just happens to be managed by Meddy’s ex, aka the one who got away. It’s the worst time to see him again, or…is it? Can Meddy finally find love and make her overbearing family happy?

Dial A for Aunties is such a page turner… Recently I have been trying to broaden my reading horizons, because,  like many other book worms I have a specific genre which is my absolute favourite and that genre takes up around 80% of my bookshelf space. This year I said to myself “Natalie, just pick up a few books that you wouldn’t normally read. What is the worst that can happen?” So sticking to my guns i tucked into my advanced readers’ copy of ‘Dial A for Aunties’.  It would have been one of those books that I would have said to myself “Nah, I won’t enjoy that.”

I am so glad that I read it, it was funny – and not the little chuckle to yourself on the inside funny but genuine laugh out loud funny.

I will not give away any spoilers but I will say that even though I have absolutely nothing in common with Meddy I found her to be extremely relatable and so too her aunties for that matter. They are all strong and developed characters . The writing style is something that all bookworms love – you start reading at 9pm, telling yourself that you will only read for a hour and before you know, it’s 2am and you still can not put it down.

I applaud Sutanto, she has single handedly converted me and I can not wait to see what other delectable delights she has in store for us.

Paperback and E-book and Audible Audio book.

GEOX Kids’ new PLAYKIX Collection.

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We absolutely love these high-quality and innovative running shoes for kids. They are so stylish and they are waterproof. Win-win.

GEOX Kids’ new PLAYKIX COLLECTION that combines sustainability, technology and fashion to create a running shoe with a futuristic look.

Geox, trainers, children's kids,

  • The shoe cleverly captures foot movement and conveys this information via Bluetooth to the PLaykix App available on smartphones.
  • This sets in motion the adventures of GEOX Boy and GEOX Girl, encouraging them to play outside, while creating avatars who collect plastic waste, rid the air of pollution or repair vehicle that clean the environment.
  • By engaging in these digitised exciting activities, children are encouraged to actively interact with the environment in a responsible way, making walking more entertaining and fun.

 

GEOX PLAYKIX is available in a variety of bright vibrant colours and all  include the Geox-patented breathable waterproof outsole. https://www.geox.com/

 

Why You Need a Professional for Plumbing Repairs

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When you own your own property, all sorts of problems can arise that need to be dealt with. In a rented home, the landlord would generally sort these out, but as a homeowner, you need to do it yourself. When it comes to plumbing issues, which are common issues in homes, you need to ensure you do not make matters worse by attempting to do the work yourself. This could actually end up costing you more money in the long run as well as wasting your time.

What you need to do in the event of plumbing issues in your home is contact an experienced professional with a solid reputation. Someone with expertise and experience when it comes to plumbing repairs can ensure the job is completed quickly, efficiently, and to high standards. This will make life far easier for you and could be far cheaper than finding someone who is not qualified or attempting it yourself.

Why This Is So Important

There are many reasons why it is so important to use a professional and reputable plumbing expert for your plumbing issues. Some of these are:

Avoiding Wasting Your Time

If you attempt plumbing jobs yourself without the necessary experience, knowledge, and tools, you will simply end up wasting your own time and possibly being back at square one – or in a worse situation – at the end of it all. With a qualified professional, the work will be done properly, and you won’t have to spend time trying to work it out yourself.

Avoid Making the Problem Worse

Another reason you need a professional for plumbing work at your home is that it means you won’t end up making the problem worse. If you make a mistake, you could end up causing more damage and this will then cost you more money to put right. With a professional, the job will be completed to professional standards.

Save Money

Following on from the last point, getting a professional in can save you money because you are not risking making the problem worse. You won’t have to go out and spend money on tools to try and fix the issue, and you won’t be spending your time trying to work out a problem you know nothing about, so you can get on with other things. All of this can save you both money and time.

Get the Job Done Right

One other reason to get a professional in is that you can benefit from greater peace of mind because the job will be done properly and to high standards. You won’t keep having the same problem over and over again, and even if you do, a reputable professional will get it sorted out for you. This makes the whole process far easier and means that you can get the plumbing issues sorted out quickly and permanently.

These are some of the reasons why it is so important to get a professional out to work on plumbing issues at your home. 
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