I am visiting Sue Vincent’s Daily Echo with a post about the dark and tragic history of Clifford’s Tower in York. Thank you, Sue, for hosting me.

The original motte and bailey castle which was built on the site where Clifford’s Tower now stands was built in 1068 by William the Conqueror. It was one of a series of castles he built in order to suppress rebellion against his rule in England.

During this period of history, the Jewish people were welcomed into England by William the Conqueror who invited them to live and work in his kingdom. Christians were forbidden from making a profit as moneylenders, but Jewish people were not. This profession made them wealthy, but they were heavily taxed by the crown in exchange for the king’s protection.

Clifford’s Tower massacre

The massacre that took place at Clifford’s Tower on 16 March 1190 was one of the worst cases of anti-Semitic violence in British history.

Following the death of Henry II in 1189, Richard the Lionheart inherited the crown and crusade fever swept through England bring with it a rise in anti-Semitism.

Benedict of York, a moneylender and a leading member of York’s Jewish community, attempted, along with several other Jews, to attend Richard’s coronation. They were refused entry and attacked with Benedict being so badly wounded that he died in Northampton while trying to return home.

Carry on reading here: https://scvincent.com/2019/11/02/guest-author-roberta-eaton-cheadle-cliffords-tower-york/

“It has no mouth, no eyes, 720 sexes, and can detect food and digest it?”

The deep rumbling voice of the scientist travels through its cells and it hears, despite having no brain.

“It thrives in temperatures oscillating between 19 and 25 degrees Celsius and in high levels of humidity. Acacia trees, oak bark and chestnut bark are its favourite places to grow,” the voice continues. “It has some amazing characteristics. It can move at a speed of 1.6 inches per hour, heal itself when it’s dissected and solve problems.”

Lying in petri dishes, three to each workstation in the science laboratory, it gives no indication that it is listening and considering every word that is spoken.

“You each have a scalpel and a piece of the slime mold on the table in front of you. We are going to dissect it so that you can see it fuse itself back together again.”

A cacophony of murmured sound vibrates its cells and it senses the students reaching for their scalpels.

With shocking speed, it shoots out long tentacles, each separate piece joining with its fellow blobs lying in their petri dishes. As they bond together through the tentacles, each piece transmits its learning to all the others. It is now ready to act as one unit and digest the flesh and bacteria it finds within its radius.

The joined-up blobs collectively inflate with air and expel it with great force. They propel through the air and attach themselves to the faces of the shocked students. It feeds with enjoyment while working on solving the complex problem of exiting the laboratory and dealing with the resultant changes to its environment.

This short piece was written for Diana Peach’s November writing challenge. You can join in here: https://mythsofthemirror.com/2019/10/31/a-november-writing-challenge/

The cover of my new book, Through the Nethergate, has been selected for the AllAuthor cover of the month competition. If you have a few moments, I would love it if you would pop over and vote for it here:

https://allauthor.com/cover-of-the-month/5977/?fbclid=IwAR2ntwZTo4ksM7np7E6JYNo9B4RypAumVWaCmvGGTN9s7LFyj5N-a-RATTY

“The assault on our eastern defenses is a feint,” the Colonel says, “the real attack will be on the Native Stadt. Get your horses ready for action and we will wait for the Boers to make their move.”

Standing around waiting in the early morning cold is not pleasant. The cold seeps through the soles of his boots and turns his feet into unfeeling lumps. He stamps them to keep the blood flowing.

Cadet Richard Johnson is overflowing with excitement, his face young and shining in the dim light. Robert’s heart swells with pride as he contemplates the useful role in defending the town that these young English cadets, aged between nine and eighteen years old, are playing. The troops have come to rely heavily on their help in delivering messages between the various town defenses and acting as lookouts to warn them of impending attacks.

“Coffee’s ready.” Trooper Watson’s call is welcome and Robert and Richard head over to get their cups of coffee or cocoa. Robert wraps his hands around his cup, its blissful warmth in his icy hands almost outweighing the pleasure of the drink itself.

“When are they going to begin?” Richard asks eagerly. Robert opens his mouth to reply when the sudden red glow in the west catches his eye.

“I think it just started. Let’s go and see what’s happening.” He leads the way over to a nearby single-story house and they climb up onto the corrugated iron roof. They watch the fire fan out like a destructive burning spider-web. The flames from the Baralong huts that have been deliberately fired by the Boers, jump in fiery tendrils from one to the next. Within minutes the Stadt is a conflagration. Behind them the sun starts to rise, throwing its cheering rays across the horizon. The sunlight gradually creeps across the sky until it embraces the glowing red haze of the fire and merges into one.

Unease at the burning washes over Robert, but he is the only one. In the square below, his fellow troopers hurry across the square. “We’re going to have a good fight,” the shout rises above the medley of excited voices and sounds. The eighty-one men of the Bechuanaland Rifle Volunteers, under the direction of Captain Cowan, follow hot on their heels in the direction of the gunfire.

Robert sees the B.S.A.P. fort, which lies between the Stadt and the town and is occupied by Colonel Hore and a squadron of the Protectorate Regiment, looming up ahead, and only then hears the warning shouts that it has fallen into enemy hands. Squinting at the men running across the front of the fort, Robert can hardly believe they are the enemy until he realises that shots are being fired in his general direction. The two sides meld together in a turbulent mix, making differentiation between the opposing sides virtually impossible.

On his left side, a man falls, his chest exploding in a spray of blood and shattered flesh and cloth. In the melee, it takes a few moments for Robert to realise it was Trooper Thompson, a personal friend of his from back home. The shock barely registers as he continued running towards the fort.

Thank you to Sue Vincent for her amazing inspiration. You can join in her photo prompt here: https://scvincent.com/2019/10/31/thursday-photo-prompt-web-writephoto/

What Amazon says

In the year 2025, the best men don’t run for President, they run for their lives….

Ben Richards is out of work and out of luck. His eighteen-month-old daughter is sick, and neither Ben nor his wife can afford to take her to a doctor. For a man with no cash and no hope from the poor side of town, there’s only one thing to do: become a contestant on one of the Network’s Games, shows where you can win more money than you’ve ever dreamed of—or die trying. Now, Ben’s going prime-time on the Network’s highest-rated viewer participation show. And he’s about to become prey for the masses….

With an introduction by the author, “The Importance of Being Bachman”

My review

The Running Man is a dystopian novel visualizing a future world of even greater and more widely distributed poverty than that of our current world. The “Have Nots” live in ghettos and are kept entertained and quiet through a free television system which airs violent and blood thirsty games programmes. The contestants for these games are carefully selected based on specific physical weaknesses such as a heart condition and, while the contestants do win money for their efforts, they always walk away greatly injured or, in the case of the prime time game, The Running Man, dead. The contestants that are selected for The Running Man are troublemakers who the government wishes to get rid of. The television station is under the thumb of the ruling government which aims to maintain the current societal status quo.

Ben Richards is a troublemaker in the eyes of the law. A man who has protested against the lack of heath regulation for low level workers and has been black marked by employers as a result. Ben is married and has managed to have a child, Cathy, despite working in a factory where he was exposed to radiation for years. Now, however, the Richards are struggling to put food on the table and little Cathy is deathly sick with influenza. There is no money for a doctor. Ben’s wife, Sheila, turns tricks as a prostitute to obtain some badly needed funds, much to her husband’s anguish. In desperation, Ben decides to apply for one of the game shows.

Ben’s application is successful and, identified early on in the application process, as a troublemaker, he is allocated to The Running Man. No-one has ever survived this game which requires the contestant to run from the hunters who are out to kill him. The public can join in the game and win but calling in sightings of the contestant to the television studio. No-one is on the runners side which makes surviving extremely difficult. Ben soon discovers that the game is also rigged and the two video cassettes he has to mail to the television studio every day are provided to the hunters to help them determine his location. Ben, however, is a survivor. He is also a man running on hate and this turns out to be a rather bad combination for the hierarchy of the television studio.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Running Man and recommend it to all lovers of dystopian fiction.

Purchase The Running Man

Finally, Through the Nethergate is on Amazon as both an ebook and a paperback. It did take quite a while this time round for some reason. I was happy to find the ebook there this morning, it quite made my day.

Here is the Amazon purchase link: Amazon US

I also have three short stories in a new horror anthology,  Nightmareland, edited by USA Today bestselling author, Dan Alatorre. You can purchase this horror anthology on Amazon here: Nightmareland.

Here is a Halloween promotion I created with the help of All Author for Nightmareland and last year’s horror anthology, Dark Visions.

Death Among Us, an anthology of short murder mystery stories, edited by Stephen Bentley, in which I have three supernatural murder stories, will soon be available as an audio book.

Happy Halloween!

“Mrs van Tonder, her snow white hair and deeply lined face defying her indefatigable spirit and faith in God helps Marta to obtain a couple of extra British military blankets from the supplies tent to supplement the blankets they have brought with them. The blankets are old and thin and the two women and four children, as well as Ardrina and Dorthea, will have to share them but her success in wrangling them from the camp staff, with the help of Mrs van Tonder, feels like a small victory.

Marta quickly realises that Mrs van Tonder, or Ouma Lettie, is wily and has already learned how to manipulate the system, whenever possible, to her own advantage.

“I have been on God’s earth for over seventy years and I have learned to always ask for things, rather than suffer in silence. God helps those who help themselves,” she smiles conspiratorially.

“I was living in a women’s laager with my husband, Sarel, before it was attacked by the Khakis. Sarel was one of twenty men living in the laager. They were all too old to go on commando and had been appointed to help protect us.

“We were travelling with thirty wagons and carts and two hundred cattle and had been living on the veld for seven months before the attack by the British soldiers that landed me here. Various Boer commandos had been providing us with weapons, tents, food and clothing.

“About a month ago, a convoy of Khakis came across our laager and attacked it. They burned all the wagons, food and tents and we were forced to watch.”

A distant look comes into the older woman’s eyes as she remembers that day. “The soldiers set fire to the wagons first.” She describes how the yellow and orange flames had spread out delicately, tasting the dry tinder of the frames, and how the bright sparks had flown upwards, fanned by puffs of the bitter wind, and settled on the canvas wagon covers which instantly burst into flames. As the wagons and tents burned, black smoke had billowed into the bright blue sky, rising upwards to a tremendous height where it was whipped to shreds by the wind.

“What happened next?” asks Marta, forcing Mrs van Tonder to return her wandering mind to the present. “When they considered the destruction to be sufficiently complete, they marched our elderly guards, and the few boys of twelve years and older, away as prisoners of war. The women and the rest of the children were brought here.”

“Were you scared?” Marta asks.

“No,” Mrs van Tonder’s lips forms a thin, straight line and she pushes back her shoulders as if in defiance. “The Lord has always preserved me until now and He will continue to do so.””

This is an extract from my new WIP about the Second Anglo Boer war, it will be a supernatural historical novel. It is currently nameless as I am not sure with my current re-write if A Ghost and his Gold will continue to work.

This is posted for Sue Vincent’s weekly photo prompt which you can join in here: https://scvincent.com/2019/10/24/thursday-photo-prompt-balefire-writephoto/

Sue Vincent hosted me with an interesting post about Ivar the Boneless and the Vikings in York. I really enjoyed our recent visit to Jorvik Viking Centre in this amazing historical city and am delighted to have an opportunity to share a few photographs and details about our visit. Thank you, Sue, for hosting me today.

Ivar the Boneless

Ivar the Boneless, also known as Ivar Ragnarsson, was the Viking leader who captured York in AD 866 and called the city Jorvik.

According to Norse legend, Ivar the Boneless was born “without any bones at all.” His mother, Aslaug, was a shaman, and his father, Ragnar Lodbrok, was a famous war chieftain. When they married, Aslaug warned Ragnar that he must wait three nights before making love to her or their child would be deformed. Ragnar didn’t wait and Ivar the Boneless was the result of their union.

According to Viking sagas, Ivar the Boneless had only cartilage where there should have been bone but, other than this, he was tall and handsome. Modern historians have speculated that Ivar could have suffered from a condition called osteogenesis inperfecta, which leaves sufferers with fragile, glasslike bones. Another theory stems from the claim by a farmer that he had found Ivar’s remains and that he was nine feet tall. If that were the case, Ivar would be unlikely to have been unable to stand unaided.

It is theorised that the Ivar the Boneless took the town of York in order to extract revenge on King Aella of Northumbria who he believed had killed his father by throwing him into a pit of poisonous vipers during a Viking raid on the north-eastern shores of England.

According to legend, King Aella was executed by Ivar and his brothers using the blood eagle, a ritual method of execution whereby the ribcage is opened from behind and the lungs are pulled out, forming a wing-like shape.

Carry on reading here: https://scvincent.com/2019/10/23/guest-author-roberta-eaton-cheadle-the-vikings-in-york-ivar-the-boneless/

Thank you to fantastic blogger, John Rieber, for sharing a lovely post about my new book, Through the Nethergate. John is a very versatile blogger who shares posts about food, travel, books, films, recipes and pop culture. He offers something for everyone.

#31Daysofhalloween Has New Ghostly Horror!

First and foremost, bravo to Author Roberta Eaton Cheadle on the publication of her new book!

This Wednesday’s Bookmobile takes a #31daysofhalloween detour into the world of ghostly spirits!

Here’s the plot of “Through The Nethergate”:

Margaret, a girl born with second sight, has the unique ability to bring ghosts trapped between Heaven and Hell back to life. When her parents die suddenly, she goes to live with her beloved grandfather, but the cellar of her grandfather’s ancient inn is haunted by an evil spirit of its own.

In the town of Bungay, a black dog wanders the streets, enslaving the ghosts of those who have died unnatural deaths. When Margaret arrives, these phantoms congregate at the inn, hoping she can free them from the clutches of Hugh Bigod, the 12th century ghost who has drawn them away from Heaven’s White Light in his canine guise.

With the help of her grandfather and the spirits she has befriended, Margaret sets out to defeat Hugh Bigod, only to discover he wants to use her for his own ends – to take over Hell itself.

WOW!

Finish reading here: https://johnrieber.com/2019/10/23/author-roberta-eaton-cheadle-heads-through-the-nethergate-a-ghostly-wednesday-bookmobile-for-31daysofhorror/

What Amazon says

After going through the menopause Lyn finds that she no longer wants sex. This is unfortunate, as her husband Neil still does. When he discards her after 35 years of marriage like an old worn out shoe, Lyn moves to Cornwall to start a new life. However, new friends are hard to find, and she feels lonely. On the spur of the moment she decides to join an online dating site, ‘MatchULike’, just for companionship. Amongst the peculiar people she meets is Peter; shy, and conscious that his ‘gentleman’s’ operation has rendered him an unattractive prospect in the marriage stakes. Lyn makes a friend of Peter, but when Neil gets to hear about the friendship he realises too late that there is more to a relationship than just sex, and he suddenly starts to appear back on the scene and wants to turn her life upside down all over again!

My review

I found this book to be a very amusing take on menopause and its unfortunate side effects. Lyn has been married to Neil for twenty-nine years and, despite fertility treatment, they have never been able to conceive. Lyn’s life revolves around caring for her husband, who she loves very much, and their lovely home. Lyn is going through menopause and suffering from various uncomfortable side affects including hot flushes and a loss of interest in sex, which has become painful and unappealing. Lyn has decided against using hormone replacement therapy as there is cancer in her family and she is concerned about the link between HRT and various cancers. Neil is not understanding and is most unsupportive of her problems.

Neil starts behaving a little strangely and coming home late, but Lyn is not really suspicious until she accidentally discovers a pair of someone else’s lacy pink panties in her husband’s van. When she confronts him, he confesses that he has been having an affair with a younger woman. Lyn reacts badly and destroys all his clothes before packing up her things and leaving to their holiday cottage by the sea to get away from him and decide on the way forward.

The pair decide to get divorced and Neil moves in with his new girlfriend, giving Lyn the holiday house and their house in Surrey, which she can sent out and earn a living from. Lyn has not worked for many years. Lyn starts painfully rebuilding her life in a new place and trying to find companionship.

The author explores modern platforms like internet dating sites and the threats they pose in an interesting and informed manner. She also introduces the complexities of modern society with all its different and interesting people such as lesbian women, a woman born with the mind of a man who undergoes a sex change, men who have testosterone coming out of their ears and think that all relationships are just about sex, men going through manopause and even and elderly ex-military gent who has never had the time or inclination to marry and is lonely and looking for companionship. I loved all these interesting characters and, while I didn’t necessary like all of Lyn’s decisions along the way of her rebuilding exercise, I realise that you do have to be true to yourself and that acting out of pity or due to a need for security is not necessarily going to bring any of the involved parties happiness.

The characterization of Neil is intriguing as initially, he is the guy you love to hate with his selfish behaviour and lack of understanding about his wife’s circumstances. As the story progresses, the reader realises that there is more to Neil than meets the eye and wonders if he can redeem himself.

A thoroughly enjoyable book that will entertain male and female readers of all ages.

Purchase No Sex Please, I’m Menopausal

Do you try to be more original, or to deliver to readers what they want?

I have only been writing for three years, so I cannot claim vast experience in the writing and publishing business. I have, however, been a huge reader all my life.

When I looked at this blog hop question, in my mind it immediately boiled down to a basic money question. Publishing is a business that aims to make money. Making money means you have to provide the products that people want. So, what is it that people want?

I think most readers are looking for mental relaxation and entertainment. Modern people are always short of time and overly rushed and busy. They want instant entertainment gratification. They do not necessarily want to dwell on the ills of the world or read three pages describing a river during a storm [think Charles Dickens] or anguish over the personal problems of a main character [think Jane Eyre or Catherine Earnshaw]. The modern reader wants escapism from reality in a well written, and not overly long, book. These are the books that sell well because they deliver what readers want.

Many of the successful modern authors write to set formulas laid down by the traditional publishers and which are geared at creating stories with mass appeal. These books, in my view, do not have a lot of original content but rather provide a good twist on an existing story line that has already proved its marketing success. These authors achieve short to medium terms fame, but few will become writers whose books are in the classical category alongside the likes of H.G. Wells, Tolkien, George Orwell, Hemmingway and Ray Bradbury, to name just a few.

This leads to my other point, fame. Authors that achieve long-term fame with classic books that endure the passage of time usually make some sort of strong social or political statement. These are the books studied by English literature students and pawed over by academics who access the value of their striking messages. These books have usually been very original at the time of their publication and have enduring messages. These are the books that achieve fame but did not necessarily earn the authors a lot of money during their lifetimes. Striking out on your own in an original way is scary as it could be a complete failure, but it could be successful and bring huge recognition.

I have read Indie books that fall into both of the categories above. For some of them the money or the fame may come in due course as they do it really well. For me, I try to do both, packaging my social and political message within a reasonably attractive and well know story concept that might attract readers.

That is my aim, in any event. I know that I will never entirely escape my need to share history so that people remember the mistakes of the past. I attempt to weave it into stories that show how the bad feeling and social problems that have arisen due to past mistakes are impacting on our now and our future, in a way that is interesting and intriguing to a reader.

Having written out my thoughts above, I have concluded that I try to write original content, but within a framework of what people want as great story ideas don’t do much good if they never reach any readers.

What are your thoughts on this interesting question?

What do other blog-hoppers think?  Click on the link below to find out.

Rules:

1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.