Authors Electric

This month, we take a look at a classic novel you've probably heard of even if you aren't a horsey person and don't normally read books with ponies on the front cover!  Black Beauty by Anna Sewell. Being pony mad, and with Black Beauty  accepted as a children's story at the time, I read this book when I was about 10 years old. I can remember enjoying it as a story written from a horse's viewpoint, although not much else of the plot stayed with me over the years. I don't even remember what the cover looked like, only that it was a library book like most of my reading back then, so it was probably a hardcover edition. Weirdly, I've never actually owned a copy of this book, so I picked up a paperback edition from a secondhand bookshop in Hay-on-Wye to re-read with adult eyes for this review. First published in 1877, the story follows Black Beauty's life from a foal in the meadow with his mother, through good times and bad, as he travels from Hampshire to B...

A new exhibition starts today at the British Library:  Alexander the Great: the Making of a Myth . From now until 19th February 2023, you can explore the blurred lines between history and myth to discover how the young prince of Macedonia, who tamed a horse grown men were afraid to ride, became known across the ancient world as 'Great' Alexander. I'm delighted that my novel straight from that untamed horse's mouth -  I am the Great Horse (Chicken House, 2007) - is included as one of the exhibits. This book re-tells history through the eyes of Alexander the Great's faithful horse Bucephalas, aiming to be true to the known facts about his life while incorporating some of the myths that grew up around his name, such as his encounter with the legendary Amazon queen. Although published originally for a young audience on the Chicken House/Scholastic list, this novel has since found a readership across all generations of horse and history fans and is now available in both ...

Mythic and Magical by Katherine Roberts 'On my one-hundredth birthday my father made me a present of a mortal man…’   So we’re told by Kryssa, the heroine of ‘ Rubies’ , one of the stories collected in Katherine Roberts' Mythic and Magical. ‘Rubies ’ reminded me of Bradbury’s tales of supernatural families, not only in its subject, but in its sensuality: ‘Her hair, black as mine, glittered with diamonds that outshone the early stars…’   And later, as Kryssa, her hair threaded with rubies, looks at her reflection in a lake: ‘Yes, I could see myself. Or…I could see moon-pale flesh shimmering with gold, and the pinpricks of red stars surrounding me: Grandpa’s rubies blurred with the millions of worlds above…’             ‘Rubies’ is romantic, lush, Gothic, and its theme, like the other stories, is that of rebelling against the rules your society insists you live by. And, in these stories, at least, the rebels most...

As a fifty-something female, I'm feeling anxious about the UK's r apidly rising pension age  and have been turning my attention to other forms of income to get me through what looks to be a rather alarming financial hole (in my case seven years between 60 and 67 - though I'm not holding my breath). I've considered several options that might fill this hole. Go back to riding racehorses (I doubt I could still jump back on a fidgety youngster if I fell off in the middle of a field). Retrain for a completely different career with a proper pension scheme, like a clever friend who is doing a law degree in her fifties (might be useful for chasing publishers who default on contracts). Dust off my melodeon and try busking on the street corner (quite a decent hourly rate, actually, but my fingers get cold and I can only remember about three tunes). Sign up for the new Universal Credit (many writers do not qualify because they do not earn the 'minimum income floor' each...

Historical fiction. Guaranteed to make children's publishers nervous, unless it's about World War II, the Roman Empire or Ancient Egypt - in other words unless it's on the school curriculum. Adult publishers take a broader view, but there are still branches of historical fiction that sell better than others (romance, epic adventure) and periods of history that are more popular than others. For me as a reader, the most successful historical fiction takes an interesting period of history and gives it a fictional twist. While I admire accurate historical background and detail, the last thing I want in my fiction is a history lesson - when I need that, I'll read non-fiction instead. So here are some tricks for turning history into successful fiction: 1. If your hero or heroine is a well-known historical character, you could tell the little-known story of their youth or teenage years. This is the approach I took in Bone Music, my novel about the teenage years of Genghi...

There has been a brilliant hashtag running on Twitter this month called #IfWritersWereBakers. I'm not sure who started it, but if you missed the fun then try a Twitter search and you'll find a whole string of publishing truths that writers encounter sooner or later in the course of their careers. One of my favourites is this If-Writers-Were-Bakers-style reader review from @Joannechocolat: "I bought this chocolate cake from you, but when I got it home I found it had chocolate in it. One star." While @say_shannon tackles the perennial curse of the children's author: "Ah, so you're a CHILDREN'S baker. Anyone can bake cakes for children. When are you going to bake a proper cake?" And, with National Novel Writing Month upon us, @MrsTrellis obviously has the right idea: "I’m taking part in NaNoBaMo. I’ll add an ingredient a day for the whole of November, then I can call myself a baker." The perfect way to let off steam! Since...

January Blues in my 'rich and famous' author days. January always seems the wrong time of the year for making resolutions, let alone keeping them. It's dark, it's cold, it's usually wet. Christmas has been and gone, and drained the bank account on its way out. The pretty lights and baubles have been packed away in the loft. All I really want to do is curl up in bed under the duvet with the cat and emerge sometime around April, when the spring flowers are in bloom, or perhaps take off skiing in the Alps like I used to do back in the heady days when my books were in the shops, before Brexit fears messed with the exchange rates. But since this is my posting day, and I'm only dreaming of the Alps this year, I've emerged from hibernation for a few hours to tell you about my 2017 resolutions. Or three of them, anyway. Resolution One I 'closed' my personal blog  Reclusive Muse  at the end of December (you can still read the posts, but you can't...

Today is the winter solstice - the shortest day of the year for those of us who live the northern hemisphere - a time for reflection, fire ceremonies involving holly and mistletoe, and other pagan traditions now more commonly associated with Christmas. However you celebrate this time of year, it is also when newspapers start printing their 'best of year' lists. Not to be outdone, here is my author 'best of' 2016 (which might seem small and insignificant compared to everyone else's multi-book advances from major publishers, no. 1 best-selling supermarket titles, and research trips around the world on elephant-back, but then I am only 5' 4"). Empire of the Hare 1. Inspired by Brexit, I have republished my Library of Avalon Geoffrey Ashe Prize shortlisted story about Queen Boudicca's rebellion Empire of the Hare on my signature list for older readers. The publishing process took 12 hours rather than 12 months so if you're curious to know what B...

Part of the reason I've held off publishing print-on-demand paperbacks for so long was fear of the cover design process. Yes, I could have purchased such covers ready made, but the affordable premades out there - while undeniably beautiful - never seemed quite right for my books, and custom covers for my 12 backlist titles would require an outlay the size of my pension pot with no promise of earning it back... not a gamble I am willing to take! If you are on a budget, this is how I managed to produce the following paperback cover for my book I am the Great Horse for no financial outlay : I am the Great Horse - 2016 paperback cover I am assuming some familiarity with Createspace , so if you have not used the site before then see Susan Price's post on Createspace publishing . * UPDATE * Createspace is now part of Amazon's KDP . However, the process is very similar... The first thing you need to do is decide on your 'trim size' for the book (i.e. size of y...