‘Talk about the setting of your book.  Is it entirely imaginary, or is it based on a real-life place?’

I think this is quite an interesting topic and I have enjoyed the other posts for this blog hop that I have read to date.

My older children and adult books all have real settings. This is largely a factor of the historical fiction nature of my books, the setting is real and so are the many of the events featured in my books.

While the Bombs Fell is a fictionalised account of my mother’s life as a small girl growing up in the small town of Bungay, Suffolk during World War II. The book revolves around her experiences in her home town and its surrounds and the settings are all real. There is lots of fascinating history in Bungay and Bungay Castle is one of the amazing historical features of the town. The castle, the ruins of Bungay Priory, St Mary’s Church, the Roman well and the legendary Black Dog of Bungay all feature in this story for children aged 10 to 14 years old.

The farmhouse on Nethergate Street where my mom grew up.

Through the Nethergate was inspired by all the ghosts that haunt the town of Bungay and especially one famous and very old inn which shares a wall in its cellar with Bungay Castle. I came across the myths about the over twenty ghosts which are said to haunt this inn while doing research for While the Bombs Fell. I decided to write a short story about the deaths of each of the ghosts and this gradually became Through the Nethergate, which features the Black Dog of Bungay and the legendary Hugh Bigod who owned Bungay Castle. The earthy settings in Through the Nethergate are mainly real places and are related to the specific ghost/s that the book features in that particular setting. The depiction of hell is obviously purely fantasy and was much easier to write than the read places which had to be thoroughly researched.

My new novel, A Ghost and His Gold also involves mainly real settings although the ghosts are fictional. The story follows the lives and ultimate deaths of three people living through the Anglo Boer War. Pieter is an Afrikaans Boer [farmer] who fights for the independence of his country against the British Empire. His story revolves around Mafeking, Kimberley and the Gatsrand in South Africa and the real battles fought by the Potchefstroom commando.

Robert is my British trooper and he is in Mafeking during the siege. I had to do a lot of research, particularly of old maps to describe the events in this town during this time in history. There were so many forts and tunnels to describe as well as the railway line and the native Stadt. Robert also spends time in Elands River where he is involved in another siege.

The battle of Elands River during the Anglo Boer War

Twelve year old Estelle, Pieter’s oldest daughter, moves from Irene, near Pretoria, to a remote farm in Zeerust and then to the Mafeking concentration camp. Her story also required significant research and is set in real places.

I have yet to write a story that does not involve real places as even the sci-fi novel I was half way through is set in London and Scotland. I will now have to revamp this to include Covid-19 as it is such a game changer.

Do other blog-hoppers write about imaginary or real-life places? 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.

Photograph taken at the Kruger National Park in Mpumalanga, South Africa. The setting is similar to that of Mafeking in 1900.

This is a prompt hosted by H.R.R. Gorman of Author Blog of H.R.R. Gorman.

I seem to tend towards writing historical fiction, I think it is a result of my fascination with real ghost stories. Where there are ghosts there are usually unnatural and interesting deaths which are good fodder for my supernatural and horror stories. I suppose that makes me sound a bit dark, but I am not, I just find ghost stories very satisfying and if they are based on real facts, that makes them even more alluring to me.

The thing about writing real stories is that you need to get the facts as correct as possible which is not always easy even if you do masses of research on a topic. Sometimes, there isn’t that much information available about a certain person and their death, some historical periods are not that well documented due to limited sources of historical information, some historical figures are the subject of a lot of speculation and, dare I say it, fake news and different sites provide different and conflicting facts.

A Ghost and His Gold is largely based around the Second Anglo Boer War or Second South African War and I discovered that there is a lot of information available from UK sources about the English perspective on the war and less from South African sources about the local and mainly Afrikaans perspective on the war. I found it very difficult to find reliable information about the native African perspective on this war, although I did find some sources which I brought in as best I could. I wasn’t able to expand the native African participation in this war as much as I would have liked, but it does feature.

I looked at a lot of different sources to accumulate all the information I wanted and needed to write this book which is told from four different viewpoints, as follows:

1. Michelle, a modern woman living in Irene near Pretoria in South Africa;
2. Pieter, a Burgher (citizen of the South African Republic in 1900 and obligated to fight for his country as and when needed);
3. Robert, a British soldier who was station in Rhodesia and returns from compassionate leave to re-join his garrison in Mafeking where he lives through the siege; and
4.  Estelle, the daughter of Pieter and his deceased English-speaking wife who is only twelve when the story starts.

Each of these characters interacts with the native African people and shares their experiences and perspectives.

Anyhow, here are a few of the documents I used for my research and which will feature in my bibliography for this book:

• Australians in the war by Effie Karageorgos;
• A visual and textual re-storying of the diary of Susanna Catharine Smit (1799 – 1863) by Marlene de Beer;
• The Three British Occupations of Potchefstroom During the Anglo-Boer WAr 1899 – 1902 by Prof Gert van den Bergh;
• A woman’s world at a time of war: An analysis of selected women’s diaries during the Anglo-Boer War 1899 – 1902 by Helen M. Ross;
• The British Scorched Earth and Concentration Camp Policies in the Potchefstroom Region, 1899 – 1902 by Prof GN van den Bergh;
• The South African War: Implications and Convictions of Postwar Politics and Policy by Jaffar Shiek;
• Map – Military Survey of Pretoria and the country north and east;
• A tool for modernisAtion? the Boer concentrAtion cAmps of the south AfricAn WAr, 1900–1902 by Elizabeth van Heyningen;
• Battle of Stormberg – Wikipedia;
• Battle of Elands River – Wikipedia;
• Blockhouses of the Boer War by Maurig Jones;
• The Treatment of ‘Everyday Life’ in Memory and Narrative of the Concentration Camps of the South African War, 1899 – 1902 by Helen Dampier;
• Manliness and the English soldier in the Anglo-Boer War 1899-1902 : the more things change, the more they stay the same by Sheila J. Bannerman;
• History of Mental Health Services South Africa PART 11. DURING THE BRITISH OCCUPATION by M. MINDE;
• The Project Gutenberg ebook,  Mafeking: A diary of a siege by F.D. Baillie;
• The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Relief of Mafeking, by Filson Young;
• The Project Gutenberg eBook, South African Memories Social, Warlike & Sporting From Diaries Written At The Time by Lady Sarah Wilson; and
• Project Gutenberg’s A Handbook of the Boer War, by Gale and Polden, Limited.

A Ghost and His Gold is a work of fiction and none of the characters really exist so my research was to ensure I incorporated the historical facts correctly within my fictionalised story. A lot of research also went in to ensuring the setting was correct and realistic.

What are your thoughts on research for a book? Do you double check facts and consult numerous sources?

If you would like to join in with the prompt, you can link up here: https://hrrgorman.wordpress.com/2020/04/16/5-types-of-research-for-your-novel/

What Amazon says

A winter blizzard barrels toward Wharton County with a vengeance.

Madam Zenya predicted the raging storm would change Kellan’s life, but the famed seer never could’ve prepared him for all the collateral damage. After Nana D disappears, one of her patients turns up dead and a second body is discovered beneath the snowbanks, Kellan must face his worst fears.

Between finding Nana D and solving the scandalous murder of another prominent Braxton citizen, Kellan and April’s worlds explode with more turmoil than they can handle. Unfortunately, neither one of them knows what to do about the psychic’s latest premonition.

Can Kellan find Nana D – and who is the killer terrorizing the town?

My review

Frozen Stiff Drink is another incredibly fast-paced and fascinating murder mystery in this great series by author, James J. Cudney. This one is even more complex as it involves three murders and a couple of close attempts so you have to pay attention and stay on your toes while reading. This book also includes a ramp up in Kellan’s relationship with law enforcer, April, despite some trials presented in the unexpected appearance of her husband, Fox Terrell, who turns out to have some unexpected relationships with the people of Wharton County, and his continued interference in her murder cases.

Kellan’s brother, Hampton, plays a bigger role in this tale and becomes involved in a lot of intrigue. He is accused of embezzlement by his father-in-law, Orin, Read, the founder of the firm where he works, and when Orin is discovered dead, Hampton is the natural suspect in the case.

Nana D, now mayor of Wharton County, but still high spirited and indefatigable in her dealings with family, friends and her constituents. Nana D goes missing during a bad snow storm and Kellan is worried about her. During his search for her he finds her car with another body inside it, but no sign of Nana D.

The story line is exciting with lots of twists and turns and the ending was clever and unexpected.

All the wonderful family elements that make this series so special are present with Kellan’s daughter, Emma, going to Disney Land with his parents and his surrogate son, Ulan. Francesca, Kellan’s on-so-dead mobster related wife who he is trying to divorce, also pops up in a threatening manner as she wants to get her hands on Emma.

James J. Cudney has a very natural style of writing and includes lots of great description in a simple and unencumbering way which does not detract from the pace of the story. I look forward to see what this author produces next.

Purchase Frozen Stiff Drink

I started blogging in October 2016 and my first blog was robbiesinpiration which I still use extensively. I had been writing poems and children’s stories for a while and published Michael and my first Sir Chocolate book in August 2016. I was looking for a way to engage with other writers, readers and authors and blogging was recommended to me.

My brother-in-law, Justin, helped me set up Robbie’s Inspiration. He knew a bit about blogs and blogging and recommended WordPress as a good platform. He helped me set it up and write and publish my first post. Over the next year or so, I learned more about blogging from other experienced bloggers like Sally Cronin of Smorgasbord Magazine blog, Sue Vincent from Sue Vincent’s Daily Echo blog, Chris from The Story Reading Ape blog and Hugh Roberts of Hugh’s Views & News blog. Each of these bloggers taught me different things about blogging successfully. Sally, Sue and Chris showed me that blogging was an interactive past time and I learned about the importance of commenting, guest posting and writing interesting content from them. Hugh’s blog also covers these points and he also writes informative posts about how to do a lot of things on WP. From him I learned how to insert the widgets which showcase my books along the side of my blog, how to include share buttons and many other things.

Through these four bloggers I met a whole community of wonderful people who all taught me more about writing, marketing and publishing. As time passed, I wrote more books for children and then, in 2018, I decided to take the leap into writing a longer novel for a young adult and adult market. In order to separate my children’s writing and baking posts from my adult writing and posts, I started this second blog, Roberta Writes, in September 2018. Through the Nethergate was published in October 2019 and I have also written adult horror and paranormal stories which are included in four anthologies, Dark Visions, Death Among Us, Nightmareland and Whispers of the Past.

On reflection, where I am going with this post is that for me, the most important tool for successful blogging is the comments section. That is where I engage with my readers on my blogs and engage with other bloggers on their blogs. I often comment on another blogger’s comment on someone else’s post if I liked their comment or want to add something. It is a friendship and a circle of support, encouragement and shared views. My blogs are not glamorous and I usually write a bit on the spur of the moment, so my thought pieces, like this one, are stream of consciousness writings, but it works for me and I am very happy in my lovely blogging community.

Have a lovely rest of the week and stay well.

What tools and templates do other blog-hoppers use?  Click on the link below to find out, or just add a comment:

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.

I am not doing a lot of active marketing of my books right now, but AllAuthor send me these amazing pictures so I have included a few here for you to admire.

I follow photographer, Wayne of Tofino Photography, and view and comment on his amazing wildlife photographs as often as I can. I usually do that form my Robbie’s Inspiration blog but today, I thought I would share some of his beautiful work here. I have matched two of his photographs with tanka poems. You can find Wayne’s site here: https://tofinophotography.wordpress.com/

Evolution

Only those who can

evolve quickly in the now

Will escape unscathed

Focus is necessary

To determine what matters

Irreversible change

Life’s background has changed

It will never revert back

I must adapt to

the different colour of dawn

Cut loose and embrace the now

These poems reflect some of my thinking about Coronavirus and its implications for my life.

Happy Easter.

April 9, 2020, prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story that declares, shield your face. It can be a knight of old, a doctor, or a senior citizen. What is the circumstance? Who makes the declaration? Go where the prompt leads!

Thank you, Charli, here is my piece:

Frustration washes over Cathy, and she concentrates on keeping her voice steady. A shaking voice will be misinterpreted as anxiety. Thank goodness this meeting is virtual, and she can hide behind her computer with the camera off. Nobody can see her face which is suffused with blood. She has never been good at disguising anger and strong emotion.

The facts are decisive, and she can’t understand this lengthily argument against the obvious answer. Then it strikes her. This discussion has nothing to do with logic or getting to the right answer. It has to do with pandering to fear.

You can join in here: https://carrotranch.com/2020/04/10/april-9-flash-fiction-challenge-2/

What Amazon says

Marcia Meara, author of Swamp Ghosts and Finding Hunter, has set Book One of her Wake-Robin Ridge series amid the haunting beauty of the North Carolina mountains, where ghosts walk, ancient legends abound, and things still go bump in the night.

“A PHONE RINGING AT 2:00 A.M. never means anything good. Calls at 2:00 A.M. are bad news. Someone has died. Someone is hurt. Or someone needs help.”

On a bitter cold January night in 1965, death came calling at an isolated little cabin on Wake-Robin Ridge. Now, nearly 50 years later, librarian Sarah Gray has quit her job and moved into the same cabin, hoping the peace and quiet of her woodland retreat will allow her to concentrate on writing her first novel. Instead she finds herself distracted by her only neighbor, the enigmatic and reclusive MacKenzie Cole, who lives on top of the mountain with his Irish wolfhound as his sole companion.

As their tentative friendship grows, Sarah learns the truth about the heartbreaking secret causing Mac to hide from the world. But before the two can sort out their feelings for each other, they find themselves plunged into a night of terror neither could have anticipated. Now they must unravel the horrifying events of a murder committed decades earlier. In doing so, they discover that the only thing stronger than a hatred that will not die is a heart willing to sacrifice everything for another.

My review

Sarah is a woman of some financial means who is tired and disillusioned with her life as a librarian and research assistant. Wake-Robin Ridge in the mountains of North Carolina is a fondly remembered holiday destination from her childhood and Sarah decides to take the plunge and purchase a remote cabin on Wake-Robin Ridge in order to pursue her dream of writing a book.

Sarah hasn’t been in her new cabin for long when she meets her neighbour, Mac, and his large half wolf half dog pet, called Rosheen. While Rosheen quickly takes to Sarah, her neighbour blows hot and cold and, despite being good looking and pleasant on the surface, manages to arouse a lot of tumultuous and conflicting emotion in Sarah who can’t understand his strange and contrary behavior.

The reader is introduced to second woman, Ruth Carter, who lives in an earlier time period [1962] and who is clearly the victim of an abusive husband. In the opening section of Ruth’s story, she commits a transgression in the eyes of her husband, Lloyd, who beats her nearly to death. Lloyd is arrested and imprisoned as a result and Ruth takes his hidden money, a substantial sum, and his car and flees. Lloyd comes to hear of Ruth’s actions and undertakes to get his revenge on her.

The story is a dual love story about both Sarah in 2011 and Ruth in 1962 with the injection of a murder and a frightening supernatural twist.

I enjoyed this story, but it was rather a slow burn initially for me with most of the action and revelations taking place in the second half of the book. I would describe this book as a romance with a paranormal sub-story rather than predominantly a paranormal book. The author’s beautiful writing and poignant emotional descriptions keep the story moving and maintain reader interest throughout the book.

I enjoyed the characters of both Sarah and Ruth, who came across as determined women who made the best of their opportunities and made some tough decisions to help and protect their menfolk. I particularly, like Ruth how showed unbelievable fortitude and resilience.

I would recommend this book to lovers of romance and deep and emotional writing with some mystery and an exciting paranormal twist.

Purchase Wake-Robin Ridge

I can remember, when I was a little girl of about eight years old, wanting to be a native American princess. In those days, I would have said an Indian princess. I was given an authentic Indian doll by an uncle who had traveled to the USA and brought this back as a gift for his doll loving niece. I remember that her clothing was all made of real leather and she had traditional beadwork decorations. I was totally fascinated by that doll and for weeks afterwards I forced encouraged my younger sister, Cath, to play Indian princesses with me. We had names; I was Princess Cherry Blossom and she was Princess Peach Blossom. We used to dress up as Indian girls and play outside in the sunshine for hours.

By the time I was twelve, my vision of the future had changed and I wanted to be a poet, just like Emily in the book Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery (also the author of Anne of Green Gables]. My poet and writing stage went on for a few years as I was still writing verses and bits of prose during my second year of high school. The year I turned fourteen, I had to select six subjects at high school to study to matric, my final year of school. This was serious stuff and I chose sensibly: English, Afrikaans (compulsory second language), Maths, Physical Science, Accountancy and History. The easiest subjects that required the least effort from me were English, Maths and Accountancy, but when I finished school I had no real idea about what I wanted to study.

I went to secretarial college for a year and learned short hand and typing as well as bookkeeping and Business English. These were all fairly easy for me and I passed all my courses with distinction. The course didn’t challenge me and I had a bit of a wild year with lots of partying.

I got a job as a junior bookkeeper and it was horrible. So boring and repetitive. After two years of working during which I changed my job eight times, I decided to go to university. I did a psychometric test and it came back that I should study to be a chartered accountant so that is what I did. I studied correspondence through a local part time university and worked as a manager at a local video shop for the three years of my undergrad degree in accountancy and auditing. After passing my degree with distinction, I applied to start my articles at KPMG Inc. in Johannesburg. I was accepted and the firm paid for me to study my honours degree part time. I passed that and then went on to study and pass my board examinations. It was during my first year of articles that I met my husband, Terence, who was completing his final year of articles.

That is my story of how I ended up becoming a chartered accountant. I did two years of articles and then I moved into corporate finance. At that time if you had all your core hours and competencies you could move after two years of auditing. I loved corporate finance and soon moved into stock exchange work. I gradually became an expert in this area and wrote a series of several publications on investing into Africa and the listing, debt and other requirements in the various countries. This work introduced me to the world of writing and publishing and from there I branched into writing for children. That, of course, is a whole other story so I shall stop here with the story of my paid job and work.

What did other blog-hoppers want to be when they grew up?  Click the link below to find out, or just add a comment:

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.

This is not my usual response to a write photo prompt. Usually, I write a story inspired by the word or picture or post an extract from my WIP that ties into the prompt. Today, however, I thought I would write a stream of consciousness piece about togetherness.

South Africa went into lock down at 12pm on Thursday, 26 March for 21 days until Thursday, 16 April. Our lock down is overwhelming as it prohibits walking your dog, jogging, purchasing cigarettes or alcohol or going out of your garden for any reason other than to purchase essential items such as medication or food or visit the doctor. We are now half way through the 21 days. Has it helped? I don’t know. Our numbers of infections are not high, just over 1 500 and we have had 9 deaths. Our minister of health is telling us not to think we are out of danger because of the relatively low new infection figures. He seems to think this may be the calm before the storm and I tend to agree.

With regards to togetherness, lock down has resulted in constant togetherness. I have my boys here at home, all day long, everyday. They need help with their home schooling work and they are continuously hungry or thirsty or bored. My husband is also at home with us which means that my dining room, where I always work when at home, is full with four of us all spread out over our 16-seater table. Everyone has at least one computer [I have two] and Terence and I have an additional large screen each. Everyone has an ipad and an iphone [I have two]. All of these devices require power so the floor is full of cables. The table is heaped with school books and my research as well as my work manuals and legal books. I find it quite cloying as everywhere I go, every time I turn around, I seem to trip over someone. First world problems I know, but I still find it difficult.

My parents are also here with us and they spend quite a bit of time in our house [they have their own cottage down the pathway] and have all their meals with us. If I want to film a video, someone will come in half way through and the interruption will have to be edited out. It feels like Park Lane Railway Station. If I make a cup of tea, everyone wants one, if I bake, someone wants to help; even cleaning the house has become an event that everyone becomes involved in. Everyone is trying to be helpful and it is wonderful, but I am finding it a bit overwhelming. To much togetherness. My husband and sons are taking turns at waking up early because they are not sleeping well. This means that even my peaceful early morning blogging and writing time is interrupted and I have to stop and listen to the overnight Corona virus statistics and everything else that relates to this virus while trying to kill my ghosts and save my main characters.

So there is a lot of togetherness at the moment. Quite difficult for an introvert like me who needs time out to recharge. It is better to be together than to be alone I am sure and I love having time with my family, it is just adding to this general feeling of weirdness I have. The knowledge that everything in the world is not right.

How are your dealing with lock down? Are you enjoying the togetherness or are you alone? Tell me in the comments.

This post was inspired by Sue Vincent’s weekly write photo challenge. You can join in here: https://scvincent.com/2020/04/02/thursday-photo-prompt-together-writephoto/

Into the Past Prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story about people who tell the truth in the face of many lies. Don’t feel constricted to coronavirus or the 1918 flu pandemic, but feel free to use any of the information presented here.

Here is my piece with is about the Second Anglo Boer war which is the focus of my WIP:

A silence fell, and Robert thought again about the Boer from the trench. The man was no different from many of Robert’s counterparts in Mafeking. He was probably more educated than many of the British troops. Robert thought about the pro-war propaganda he had seen in England during his recent trip home and the demonization of the Boers who had gone from being “Brother Boer” to “Dirty Boer” due to the imminent war.

The anti-Boer campaign was part of a campaign by government to dehumanise the Boers in the eyes of the British public. Most of it was lies.

You can join in here: https://carrotranch.com/2020/03/31/into-the-past-the-not-so-spanish-spanish-flu/