Random Fact Abouth Anhlo Saxon England #71

Fact #71:  People in Anglo Saxon England had bunny slippers.

The slippers were, however, made of real rabbits.

(Humor supplied by Jim Tedford.)

Ten of the Many Wonderful Things about Jim Tedford

Jim Tedford andMacDhui the Duck (a Cat)

1. He really loves MacDhui the Duck (a Cat), who loves him too, and loves all other cats.
2. He gives his middle-aged wife cool things like a longsword for Mother's Day and a viking ship model and a castle model  and a war ax for Christmas.
3. He will hear no criticism whatsoever of his wife's writing.
4. Nevertheless he will proof her lousy typing and is willing to help with the medieval-novels.com which involves hours of data entry.
5. He has come to love Celtic music and listens to her Celtic radio station a lot.
6. He is not threatened by the fact she likes to read and plans to write gay romance novels.
7. He understands when she wants to move tables at a restaurant because they seated us by a family with noisy rotten little kids.
8. He understands about his wife's engagement to an orange tabby cat named Mr. Hata.
9. He likes to cook and do housework, yet is in no way whipped not thinks he is.
10. He is the single cleverest and funniest person I know.

And I love him dearly.

Nan Hawthorne

What I Wanted for Christmas

About two years ago I posted what I wanted for Christmas.  I just ran across the article and was interested to see what I got, and what I didn't!

What I Want for Christmas

22 December 2008

For a holiday gift I would like:

A chance to do my Celtic music show on Internet radio again.

That very Christmas my husband got me a radio station, so now I have 24/7 Celtic music on Radio Dé Danann!

A cottage in the Wicklow Mountains and the funds to get there and back.

That is still on the list in 2010.

An ashwood shield of Anglo Saxon design.

A girl can dream, can't she?

Unlimited ideas on what to write about in my blog.

Well,  I get close.

The snow on the ground in the Seattle area to melt.

It did, and has done so several times...

Nicholas de Fleury to stop being so depressing.

You see, I hadn't yet met Francis Crawford...

For my novel An Involuntary King to be made into a movie.

Better hurry up.. my chosen cast is aging rapidly!

Well, I am getting well into the range of impossibility, so I should stop there I think.

Not bad, though, eh?

Hope your holiday season is warm and full of love!

O The Holly Bears a Berry

Performed by The Chieftains with lead vocal by one of my favorite singers, Kevin Conneff.



A Very Warm and Loving Holiday to You All from Us at Booking History and Radio De Danaan Music of the Pan Celtic World www.radiodedanann.com !

The Wexford Carol - Irish Christmas Song

A Very Warm and Loving Holiday to You All from Us at Booking History and Radio De Danaan Music of the Pan Celtic World www.radiodedanann.com !

Ring Out Those Solstice Bells

In honor of Nan and Jim's 29th anniversary.

A Very Warm and Loving Holiday to You All from Us at Booking History and Radio De Danaan Music of the Pan Celtic World www.radiodedanann.com !

Bring Us In Good Ale

www.

Bring Us In Good Ale

Chorus:
Bring us in good ale, good ale, and bring us in good ale,
For our blessed Lady's sake, bring us in good ale.

Bring us in no brown bread, for that is made of bran,
Nor bring us in no white bread, for therein is no grain,
But bring, etc.

Bring us in no beef, for there is many bones,
But bring us in good ale, for that go'th down at once.
And bring, etc.

Bring us in no bacon, for that is passing fat,
But bring us in good ale, and give us enough of that.
And bring, etc.

Bring us in no mutton, for that is passing lean,
Nor bring us in no tripes, for they be seldom clean.
But bring, etc.

Bring us in no eggs, for there are many shells,
But bring us in good ale, and give us nothing else.
But bring, etc.

Bring us in no butter, for therein are many hairs,
Nor bring us in no pig's flesh for that will make us bears.
But bring, etc.

Bring us in no puddings, for therein is all God's good,
Nor bring us in no venison, that is not for our blood.
But bring, etc.

Bring us in no capon's flesh, for that is often dear,
Nor bring us in no duck's flesh, for they slobber in the mere (mire)
But bring, etc.

From Chapell, Popular Music of the Olden Time
Song from about 1460.

The Wilsons at Walthamstowe

You can hear great old songs like this on Radio Dé Danann!

Nativitiy at the Grange: A Story

The following story was originally published for the Speak Its Name Advent Calendar.  It is part of a work in progress, Alehouse Tales, which is due for publication in late spring.  Be sure to check out all the advent calendar offerings.. they are simply wonderful, and everyday you can enter for a giveaway of books and other goodies.  To keep up with Hawthorne's books see http://www.nanhawthorne.com/

Anglo Saxon farmstead

Nativity at the Grange

St. Mary’s Grange, Wessex, 984 AD

Last Nativity I allowed myself to stray abroad in the direction of the Grange, hoping for an invitation to spend this holy festival with Godwine and Aelfraed. The snow was thick on the fields, so I chanced that these two men would use the excuse of hard travel to remain by themselves rather than attend mid-winter mass in the town. I am afraid my claim of wandering in the storm was belied by the cask of Leofwen’s good ale that I offered to Godwine as, God be praised, he ushered me to the spot nearest the fire.

“But will not Goodwife Leofwen miss you and your music for the festival days, O’Quill?” Aelfraed asked as his partner took the cask to broach it and pour ale in three bowls. Aelfraed went to the fire pit and took a poker and placed it in the coals to heat.

“Aye, she will, but I knew the good lay brothers here would not mind a lonely Irishman taking advantage of their good cheer for one night. Something tells me there is much love in this cottage and in the dooryard.”

The two men looked at me astounded. I quickly added, so as not to discomfit them, “You two take such good care of your animals and crops.” I tried not to smile as their faces relaxed. Their secret was safe with me, and by so speaking I believe I revealed that I knew it but that was as far as my knowledge would travel.

Aelfraed took the poker from the fire as Godwine welcomed my visit fulsomely. The tip of the poker in each bowl warmed the ale, and as I took my first sip I noticed that the brother had added some festive spices. I toasted him with a raised bowl. “Nollaig Shona Duit!” I said.

Aelfraed took a seat on one of the other stools and asked me, “Is that how you say ‘Glad Geola’ in your language?”

While the taller lay brother took the third stool and sat, I replied, “Aye, as close to as matters. But I have heard few people here use the word ‘Yule’ or ‘Geola’ for the feast day.”

Aelfraed offered the explanation. “That is the old Saxon word for the mid-winter solstice, when the sun ceases its descent in the southern sky and begins its journey to mid-summer. It is a heathen celebration. We of the Church call it Nativity. How do you observe the holy day in Eire?””

I told them that as the Christian Church had long flourished in Eire, even when England was all but barbarous, that the old rites remained only in some remote regions, mostly in Connaught far to the west. Still we Irish know a good thing when we find it, so many of the traditions remain from those days before enlightenment and are redesigned to fit later knowledge.”

“It is the same for us, I think, for the people certainly do not spend the Nativity on their knees in frigid churches here either.” Godwine’s eyes sparkled as he smiled at his friend. There is much feasting, as you know, and both children and grown men and women play at games like leapfrog and blind man’s bluff. A very popular pastime is a communal bath, where men, women and children flock to old Roman thermae in the town to talk, eat, drink, and make merry all together in the hot scented water.”

I knew what he said was true, for I discovered the delights of this pastime in the past couple of years that I have been at Wintonceaster. Though the humid air in the bath is not good for my harp, I like to play it first and thereafter share some of the songs of my own countrymen.

“Are you permitted the pleasure of the communal bath?” I hazarded.

The two men looked at each other and laughed. “Oh no, good sir, our abbess would be most displeased to see even her lay servants participate in what she calls such immorality and licentiousness!” Godwine replied with emphasis.
“What about when you are here alone?” I pursued.
More subdued, Aelfraed told me, “We do not have a tub large enough, so in winter we simply bathe as best we can by the fire. “
“But in summer we can go to the pond and swim with the ducks!” his partner said happily.

We sat in companionable silence for some time, enjoying the spiced ale and the hot fire. Then Godwine stood and reached for our bowls. “My dear,” he addressed Aelfraed, why do you not go and see to the comfort of the animals and I shall set out bread and soup for our supper?”

“Get your cloak, O’Quill, and come with me,” Aelfraed said, getting up and heading to where his own simple cloak hung on a nail.
I followed him out into the blowing snow and across the small dooryard to the byre. It was warm inside for the animals are warm blooded and heat the space with their breath and their dung. I saw how the donkey, the few sheep and the chickens and ducks crowded up to the lay brother as he reached into bins against the wall for their food. I myself went to the donkey and greeted him, “Well met, Master Baalam,” I said. He pushed up his nose to snuffle my hair. When I reached to stroke his neck he moved his head so he could root in my hand. “Nay, venerable fellow, I am not the one with your supper.”

Aelfraed chuckled as he brought over a bag of the donkey’s food and fitted it over his nose and mouth and looped over his ears.

“Hmmm,” I considered, “I wonder if I could make a wineskin that would fit on me like that.”

“Would that not get in the way of singing?” the lay brother asked, and then went on in a merry tone, “Or whatever it is you do with the pretty women?” I looked at him and saw him wink.

Just as we went back out of the byre I heard him call to the animals, “Never fear, we will be back with you tonight for your Nativity Mass.” I looked at him curiously, but his face was covered with the sides of his deep cowl so I could not see if he was laughing at me.

The meal was simple, hot and nourishing, with a soup of stored vegetables and whole grain. We ate big hunks of brown coarse bread but with the crown of some thick honey from the grange’s hives. At their bidding, I took up my harp and sang songs of the season in both Gaelic and English. Then Aelfraed said, “It is late enough, my dears. Shall we go celebrate the birth of our Lord?”

I thought, “Now this is when I will see what he meant before. We took up our cloaks, and Godwine fetched the wooden cross from the wall. We went out into the night to see the clouds had cleared and the stars were so sharply bright it almost hurt the eyes. It was more bitterly cold. The warmth of the byre was even more noticeable after the chill blast.

I knew immediately what the plan was, for Godwine and Aelfraed busied themselves getting everything in order for some sort of ritual. One hung the cross on the wall on a nail provided for the purpose. The other, who had brought a small horn lantern, set it on a table he pulled to the space between where each animal was housed. I took a seat on a manger, taking note of the fact that Jesu lay in just such a rude bed. I listened quietly as the two men spoke in Latin over the table.

“Do you do this often?” I asked when they had finished and taken a stool each.
“Where more fitting to celebrate the Nativity than with our beasts?” Godwine beamed with happiness.

I glanced around at these beasts. Baalam the donkey stood with his head over the gate of his stall. The sheep huddled together, some standing and some with their legs tucked under themselves for warmth. The ducks gathered in their nesting boxes and the chickens roosted all snuggled up together. I saw the cat they called Duckie slip in through the side of the roost and come over to jump into Aelfraed’s lap for a long chin scratch.

The two men began to sing the mass in Latin. They were not priests, nor even monks, but just lay brothers but they sang the mass with all the devotion and joy of a choir in the great Minster. Their eyes shown as they shared the music with the creatures that resided in the byre. I picked out the melodies of the many chants on my harp.

I took care to act as though I was sound asleep and snoring before my two hosts crawled under the blankets on their own palette. I wanted to afford them the privacy of a shared moment, something I knew they must live out here, isolated from their fellow men, in order to have without rebuke. I was rewarded by over hearing the sound of contentment in their goodnights and thought I heard a quiet sigh at the conclusion of a kiss as they hunkered down for warmth.

Indeed God is Love whenever such love is present, whether for one’s fellow man, the beasts, or someone whose heart you hold dear.

(c) 2010 Nan Hawthorne

Burning Issues in Historical Fiction: Watch Your Language!

Issue #5: Period dialogue: what is enough?  What is too much?  Is it ever all right to go all out?  And why?

Leave your response at the Burning Issues in Historical Fiction Facebook page:

Burning Issue #5: Watch your Language

And please pass this along to your colleagues, discussion groups, and so forth.

Also always looking for topics you'd like to see discussed.

A Tribute to Irish History Yarn Painting

A Tribute to Irish History Yarn Painting
Originally uploaded by nanhawthorne

This and more yarn paintings dealing with history and books at my Flickr account.

Timely News

Daily Literary Advent Calendar from Speak Its Name

SpeakItsName.com

SpeakItsName.com  offers you a special story or other treat and a chance at a prize every day!

Just click on the advent calendar in the right hand column to find out what they are!  December 1 - 25.

I will have an excerpt from the first draft of Alehouse Tales as the offering on December 7, along with a free ebook as the prize.

---

Historical Novel  Society Conferemnce in San Diego June 2011

Will I be there? I sure am going to try. I love San Diego! I grew up in Los Angeles. Of course, it was in Spanish hands then...

Book Puzzle!

Here are a couple of my book collage yarn paintings.  See if you can match the image in the yarn painting with the book title!

1. Libertas, Alistair Forrrest
2. Ten Dragons, Barbara Weitbrecht
3. Loki's Daughters,  Delle Jacobns
4. Gentlemen of the Road, Michael Chabon
5. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows
6. Memoirs of Colonel Gerard Vreilhac, Anel Viz
7. The Ruby in her Navel, Barry Undsworth
8. Gallows Thief, Bernard Cornwell
9. Moll Flanders, Daniel Defoe
10. Counterpoint: Dylan's Story, Ruth Sims
11. Shards of Empire, Susan Schwartz
12. The Sallee Rovers, M. Kei
13. The Serpent's Tale, Ariana Franklin
14. The Reavers, by George MacDonald Fraser
15. And a bow and arrows I don't remember which book they were from!  So you get at least one point.

We will do the second yarn painting in a couple of days along with the answers to this one.

NaNoWrapUp

With three days to go, I am at within 1,500 words of the goal.  Alehouse Tales isn't finished, but everything after tomorrow is, as they say, gravy.

Here's a partial list of the topics of the chapters.  Since I plan to publish this one independently, I can reveal whatever I want ab out it.

• A Viking raid forces Leofwen of Hamwic to flee her home - a historical event, by the way.
• Leofwen tells how she runs her alehouse, how she brews her good Saxon ale and cooks for her guests.
• Stories about her regular customers, including two merry fishermen, a hunter, an old soldier who fought with King Athelstan, an Irish bard and others.
• All about the people who work at the alehouse, including the ostler and the serving wench who is still waiting for her man to come back from the war. 
• The story of a tragic fire, how the arsonist is found, tried and punished.
• A sad tale of how Leofwen's young love and his family face reprisals against Northmen.
• How charcoal, salt, leather, swords, fine jewelry, linen and wool , and many other important things are made, and how a house is built.
• Several other stories, including the marriage of King Aethelraed.

All of this taking place in the King's city, Wintonceaster, now known as Winchester, whose walls were built and streets paved by the legendary Alfred the Great about 90 years earlier.

I hope to have  this book ready for you in the spring.  I am doing one of my "yarn paintings" for the cover..

All this while I patiently wait to hear what a publisher thinks of my other book started last NaNoWriMo, working title "Beloved Pilgrim".  Stay tuned for news.

Can't wait to read one of my fascinating novels?  Then read An Involuntary King: A Tale of Anglo Saxon England by Nan Hawthorne!

Captain's Surrender, by Alex Beecrost

Captain's Surrender

Alex Beecroft

Josh Andrews stands at attention as the highly homophobic Capt. Walker hangs one of his crew mates for sodomy.  He is sure Walker knows that he shares that "abomination" and that the first proof he can get he will use to destroy him.  When the ship's new lieutenant, Peter Kenyon, pulls up in a fancy carriage to start his duty on the Royal Navy ship and Walker catches Josh's admiring look, he assigns Josh and Peter to share quarters just to torture the midshipman. 

The two young men not only must deal with the Captain's cruelty but also the mutiny brewing among the crew because of it.  When Walker is stabbed during the attempt Peter takes over the chip and sails it on to Bermuda.  This gives Peter the chance to get Josh, who had once given into impulse and kissed him, alone so he can fulfill Josh's fondest hope, and they become lovers.  Josh tells him from the start that he knows someone like Peter is ambitious and wants a normal life, so he expects him to break it off someday and would rather not entertain any false hope.  Peter seems to go along with this.

When Peter starts casually to court the daughter  of an important man in Bermuda,  Josh sees the writing on the wall.  That the woman is not in the least interested in Peter seems not to be taken into consideration by anyone.  When the two men are on a mission to assess French designs on Hudson's Bay, Josh takes a chance to save Peter and the other ships by sending his own crew off and firing the ship, expecting to die.  Peter is captured but ransomed and goes back to Bermuda to mourn for his friend.  In the meantime Josh has met some Indians who saved his life and teach him that men who love men are considered special and holy in their culture.  The man wants to make Josh his second wife, but Josh will only do that if Peter truly no longer wants him.

More than anything this novel about the two men's understanding of their sexual and affectional proclivities.  Josh has known he is gay from childhood, has been taught he is wrong, a sinner.  Peter doesn't seem to think very hard about why he is boinking a man, seems to think he is just doing it to make Josh happy.  While he tells Josh he cannot separate sex from love, he certainly acts like he can.  When Josh is first presented with the idea that there is nothing wrong with him, he is liberated to feel free to love a man, no matter how careful he and that man need to be to be safe from man's law if not God's.  To the eleventh hour Peter continues to see conventional society the correct one.  I absolutely cannot forgive him for what he contemplates just before coming to his own epiphany.  He does not deserve Josh, who is the much better man.

The main problem I had with this novel is that dramatic tension seemed to llack at the the most unlikely times.  Three weeks go by in a flash at the beginning, a period where  Peter and Josh would be getting to know each other.  More feeble is a later scene when a "molly house" or male brothell is burned down and Josh can hear a man inside dying horribly.  All Josh seems to focus on after an abortive attempt to enter the house and save the man is to take Peter's rival for the young woman's acffections and buy him a drink and tell him not to give up.  An atrocity has just taken place and they are off having a beer.  The dramatic potential of that scene in particular is tragically lost.  The one thing about that scene I appreciated was that it demonstrated how the classes were treated differently in terms of gay men.  The molly house is no finer than a brothel and the perpetrators of the arson will be overlooked, for they are upper crust and alouwed to commit murder but the low caste male prostitutes will receive no justice.  This is a concept that I know for a fact many people don't consider, that punishment for "sodomy" is applied based on class and not universally.

Nevertheless the characterization is credible and well drawn and the plot holds together and is exciting at times.

A persistent theme in what is often called M/M love stories is that the two men in love go from doing what comes, according to their society, unnaturally, but eventually conclude love is love and love is worth the risk.  There is almost always some threat of being caught and punished.  It can be emotionally harrowing to read these books.  Fortunately there are a few M/M and gay novels where fear is not as strong a motivator as attraction and love.

I listened to this novel, which I bought at the Kindle Store on Amazon, on my Kindle 3.

History Made With a Bang AND a Whimper

We don't get a lot of snow 'round here....



Today in Medieval History is brought to you by Ballad of Rory McGuinness, words and music by Nan Hawthorne, performed by Celtic musician, Druidsong, and available to download for $1. Get yours now!

More Fun With Search Terms

Does this annoy you?

This time of year we need laughs.  Thanks to someone else's clever use of the search terms used in finding her blog and site, I am occasionally drawn to getting a hoot out of some of my own.

Courtesy of Statcounter.com .

free print and color alphabet pages

I do, in fact, freely use the alphabet in my blog posts.

History 3 на букинг

Did I really have this in my post?  I must have been channeling Ivan the Terrible.

winter coloring sheets

You mean, white ones?

female narrator in exeter riddles


You see, we were tricky back then too.

Medieval words for "foreigner"


In England, it was usually "those slimy French bastards".

historical narrative first person

How about "Veni, vidi, vici?"

history of Kipling's poem the bastard king of england

You'll have to talk to Lord Zippity Zap about that one.

anglo saxon riddle

"Why did the Norman cross the Channel?"
"To make a royal mess of things."

annoying historical figures

I've heard Anne Boleyn's figure really drove Katherine of Aragon up a wall.  See above.

burning issues in historical fiction

You came to the right place.. see the righthand column.

Not as funny as hers, but they tickled me anyway.

Historical Fiction Round-up: Holidays 2010

Tell book lovers -- and friends of book lovers -- about your historical novel, including all the pertinent deatils including where and how to get it!

It doesn't have to be new... or even by you.  It just has to be something that would make someone's face shine when they open their holiday gift!

Be sure to mention if the book is in print or an ebook.

Burning Issues in Historical Fiction #4: "How much history is too much history?"

Issue #4:  How do you avoid the Tom Clancvy effect in a historical novel, i.e. too much detail?

Someone just told me that the novel I jsut finished "avoided some of the pitfalls of writing historical fiction." I asked her which pitfalls those were, and she told me :

"You avoided going too much into the history, details that did not really matter for the story you are teling. But you also did not get into too many purely modern issues or interpretations."

Let's take her first statement this time... what is an appropriate amount of historical detail in order to tell a story set in that time?

DO  NOT LEAVE YOUR RESPONSE  HERE!!!

Leave your comments at:

Burning Topcs in Historical Fiction: Discussions

It Starts!

A Humorous History of England

Excerpts from A Humorous History of England

Browsing Project Gutenberg can be like an Easter egg hunt.. or maybe since it's Halloween, I should say trick or treat.  No, stick with eggs.  You will find treasures there you did not even know exist, and what's more, you can reprint from them to your little heart's content.

The book, which starts with a full page advertisement for iron geloid pills for anemia, cost thruppence in 1920 when it was published.  It is all verse and was written and illustrated by a C. Harrison.

I would on occasion like to share some of these gems with you.  Swallow your Coca Cola now, to avoid spit takes.

WARS OF THE ROSES

Henry VI

Henry Six, next in our rhymes,

For fifty years had troublous times;

Wars of Roses, Wars with France,

The poor man never had a chance.

Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc the peasant Maid

Inspired the French with Mystic aid;

Disunited, we make peace,

All France but Calais we release.

Edward IV

In Edward Fourth, fourteen-six-one

The House of York obtains the Throne.

He wins at Towton's bloody fray,

No quarter given on that day.

Guy, Earl of Warwick in these frays

Was always turning different ways;

Barnet

On Barnet Field he met his doom

The Rose of York's now well abloom.

The Barons, Church and Commons fall,

The King emerges Boss of all.

Benevolences he exacts,

An early form of Super Tax.

Earl of Warwick

'Kingmaker' was Earl Warwick styled

With his manner scarcely mild

He set Kings up and bowled them down

Playing at ninepins with the Crown.

Wars of Roses

White and Red Rose warring madly

Bled the country very sadly,

Three-and-thirty years contending;

At Bosworth Field we see the ending.

Richard III

Richard (Crookback) in fateful hour

Smothered his nephews in the Tower,

He murdered them the Crown to gain;

A heavy price for three years' reign.

The Scutcheon's blotted terribly

Of this King Richard number Three,

For it seems his recreation

Was ordering decapitation.

1485

On Bosworth Field when sorely pressed

He made a bid th'uncommonest

'My kingdom for a horse' he cried;

No offers coming, there he died.

A Few Things That Probably Should Be Criminalized

1. It should be against the law to teach an eight year old boy to whistle.
2. You should be able to call Animal Control if your neighbors' three year old is allowed to stand outside and bark like a puppy for over an hour.
3. It should be a misdemeanor to call anything but real in fact black licorice "licorice".  There is no such thing  as "red licorice".
4. Bosses who cancel an employee's vacation must by law be there at work the same whole time.
5. It should be litigable when a critic complains about tiny irrelevant anachronisms that are not anachronistic after all.
6. BBQ restaurants should be required to provide a fire hose for rinsing off after eating.
7. Places you went when you were young and have fond memories of should be required to remain exactly the same as you remember.
8. There should be a reformatory institution for ignorant people.
9. Habitually mispronouncing the same word should be considered "creating a public nuisance"and subject to arrest and/or fines.
10. Add your ideas in Comments.

Burning Issues in Historical Fiction: Historical Accuracy

Historical accuracy in a novel.. where should one draw the line between the extremes of detail,  "sloppy" to "intrusive"?  Is there a point where storytelling is more important, or is it the responsibility of the author to present the past exactly as its denizens would have known it?

Share your comments on the Burning Issues in Historical Fiction section on Facebook!

Please answer here:
http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=145825782113525&topic=249

Do NOT leave a comment below.

Gnash Less, Write More: National Novel Writing Month 2010

November 1 - 30 a whole lot of hopefuls will be hitting the old keyboard to try to write 50,000 words of a novel during that month.  This will be my third year.  I thought it was mostly a good idea, and I liked what they said, that people give up to easily and better just to write and write and write than give up.  You can always apply the genius in December.

In 2008 I did not finish during the month.  I didn't make it anywhere near 50k words, even though there were lots of four letter ones in it.  I did not make it to 50k.  But nevertheless my historical erotic novel, Jack Random, got written, and the manuscript is just sitting in my hard drive waiting for me to get to it again.

It was a different story in 2009.  I wrote a novel!  I wrote the entire first draft in those 30 days, then spent  the next several months turning it into a pretty dang good novel, if I say so myself!  I managed to write 80k words that month, and the book, which is now finished and at an agent's office now, turned into 113k.

I think two factors can be thanked for my success the second time around.  One is a better story, of course, but the two I refer to here are the albeit admittedly artificial structure of aiming for a certain number of words a day.  The other and perhaps more significant was the fact that my husband got that I would be rather occupied for the month, and being my Number One Fan, sans sledgehammer thankfully, he honored my space.  It is a lot harder to get that if you are doing this everyday.  The parameter of a month worked wonders.

Now I am just waiting for the National Novel Writing Month site to reset to 2010 so I can get back to planning this year.  It will be even easier and more satisfying this year, I think, because I've done it now, have the proof in manuscript form, and I can't tell myself it's too hard. 

Join me for NaNoWriMo 2010!  When you do, look me up so we can be Writing Buddies!   My username is nan_hawthorne .

Burning Issues in Historical Fiction: Historical vs. Period Fiction

The topic this time is the difference between historical and period fiction.

Go to

Burning Issues Facebook page

to share your responses to some or all of these questions.

1.  Define historical fiction as opposed to period fiction.

2.  What must a novel be to be termed historical fiction?  Period fiction?

3.  Offer some examples of each type and explain why the book falls into one or the other category.

4.  Do you like historical novels or period novels better?  If yes, why?  Be specific.

Remember, you need to go to   and use the Discussions tab to make your response:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Burning-Issues-in-Historical-Fiction/145825782113525?v=app_2373072738&ref=ts

Thanks you!

P.S.  Please also suggest other Burning Issues when you bisit the page.

Historical Blogs: Fiction & Fact Receives One Lovely Blog Award

There are two terrific things about receiving an award from another historical fact or fiction blog.  First, there is a the honor and recognition.  It can be a lonely world out here on Cyberspace, but hearing from people who care about what you care about, specifically books, is the sort of connection for which one can really be grateful.

The second pleasure is being asked to recognize others who blogs are joyous, intelligent, fun, instructive, spirited and all those other good words one likes to have applied to one.

The "One Lovely Boog Award"  was just awarded to this blog's sister blog, Historical Blogs: Fiction & Fact, bestowed thereto by Danielle at The Romantic Armchair Traveler.  HB: F&F is really not a blog,  rather is a bloglist, but I'm not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth.  I accept!  Here is what Danielle said was the reason for choosing that blog:

Nan Hawthorne’s Historical Blogs: Fiction And Fact, which provides a regularly updated, inspiring list of blogs that deal with history in one form or another.

I also appreciate that given what my "blog" is about I learned about several other blogs that deserve their place in the bloglist!

Now I have the honor to bestow this award to up to fifteen other blogs in my chosen category, which is, not surprisingly, history and historical fiction.  All the ones listed below in no particular order are ones I check regularly and highly enjoy and appreciate.

There is one hitch... I am only to choose blogs I have encountered recently.  So if I have read your blog forever you won't be here, but you remain forever in in my heart.

1. Who Am I?  Where Am I?  http://qhistorical.blogspot.com/
2. The Medieval Chronicle's Blog http://themedievalchronicle.wordpress.com/
3. In Search of Heroes  http://dellejacobs.blogspot.com/ 
4. M/M Romance Novels  http://mmromancenovels.blogspot.com/
5. The Macaronis  http://historicromance.wordpress.com/
6. Pirates of the Narrow Seas  http://narrowseas.blogspot.com/
7. Two Nerdy Historiy Girls  http://twonerdyhistorygirls.blogspot.com/
8. Historical Britain Blog  http://mercedesrochelle.com/wordpress
9. Anglo-Saxon England http://asengland.blogspot.com/
10. The Wolf's Lair  http://christopher-spellman.tumblr.com/
11. Tea at Trianon  http://teaattrianon.blogspot.com/
12. Jane Austen's World  http://janeaustensworld.wordpress.com/
13. Speak its Name  http://speakitsname.com/
14. medieval research with joyce  http://medievalresearch.blogspot.com/
15. Medieval Material Culture Blog  http://larsdatter.com/wordpress

 What I lack in detail I make up for in numbers.  Congratulations to every Man jack of you.

Now go spread the joy!

The rules for the "One Lovely Blog" award are as follows:

1. (If you) accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award and his or her blog link.
2. Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you've newly discovered.
3. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know that they have been chosen for this award.

Why Did the Historical Chicken Cross the Road?

I just got a clever little list of what famous people would say was the reason the chicken crossed the road, things like Barak Obama saying the chicken wated change, real change, and was going to get change, Jerry Falwell because the chicken is gay and that's why they call it "the other side" and we must guard against the chicken's sinful influence, and Bill Clinton denying that he went across the road with the chicken...

So what would some historical figures  say?  Try these on for size and add your own, if you can come up with better ones!

Why did the historical chicken cross the road?

Alexander the Great - It came with me to help me cut through that Gordian knot with its beak.

Sigmund Freud - To confront its feelings about its mother.

Oscar Wilde - A chicken who crosses the road is like someone who borrows money from you.  Once it is on the other side, you never see it again.

Joan of Arc - St. Margaret and the Archangel Michael told it to.

Harold Godwinson - Damned Norman chickens just can't stay put.

Louis Braille - What chicken?
Napoleon Bonaparte - It was that or coq au vin tout de suite!

Jack the Ripper - I'll tell you after I follow it into this dark alley.

Julius Caesar - I don't know, but I do know why I crossed the Rubicon.

James I of England - Like it says in my book about demonology, it was bewitched!

George Washington - What street was it?  Delaware ?

Nostradamus - Let me check its star chart.

Richard III - Who let it out of the Tower?

Lewis and Clark - Who cares?  It was one little road.  We crossed the whole damned continent.

Sacajawea - Tell me about it!

Your turn!

Historical Fiction Roundup for September 2010

Use the Comments link below to tell our readers all about your recent or upcoming book release or simply about a historical novel  you don't want anyone to miss!

See the right hand column for a list of earlier "Historical Fiction Roundups".

What You Said About "When Is History""

Here is what you said in the Discussions section of  Facebook about "When is history?"  Find more at Burning Issues in Historical Fiction.

To link to the authors and their books, go to the Facebook page link abouve.

Nan at Burning Issues in Historical Fiction i was at a used bookstore today and had a pleasant conversation with the owners. The fellow was puzzling over when a book is considered historical rather than another genre of fiction. He meant, when does historiy end and today start? Yesterday? twenty years ago? Outside living memory?

What is your opiniion?

Aleksandr Voinov In gay fiction (as we deal with it on Speak Its Name http://www.speakitsname.com/ ), anything before Stonewall is historical - which works quite well.

I think "everything beyond living memory" works, too. At university, the cut-off date was the 1950ies (or end of WWII), after which it became not history, but part of political science/sociology.

Suzy Witten I think the "when" is in the "detail." Constructing a world that no longer exists.

Richard Denning I have certainly heard beyond living memory as one definition.

But I suppose its a matter of who we are talking about.
I was born in 1967 so for me a novel set in say the Korean War of the 1950's would be beyond living memory and pretty much anything before the mid 70s really be before I was much aware of the world.

I would generally argue that a historical novel is one where the author had to go and research it because its before his/her time. IE If My grandmother wrote about life in Britain during the Blitz it would not be historical fiction really would it?

Historical fiction is as Suzy said about building/ recreating a world that is no more and making us believe we can feel/ see and smell it just as if we were there.

Patrick Campbell But if it happened yesterday then surely its history as it cant be affected by anthing happening today. Tho to be accepted as being history someone would have had to record it, stored it in an image or written word and in turn stored with other records of events.
So what is history for me it the recorded happening of yesterday.

Laura Vosika Interesting question, and there probably is no perfect answer. I would definitel consider anything about the Viet Nam War historical fiction, partly because it uses a major historical event as its backdrop, partly because it's outside my memory.

I like the definition of anything requiring research.

I do have a complete novel set in Boston in 1990. I have considered updating it to reflect the current time, but decided against it. I don't feel that it's historical fiction, because I wrote it in '90-'92. But now, 20 years later, it reflects a Boston and world that is no longer what we kow. Fashions, the cityscape, possibly the laws (which are important to the story), technology, all sorts of things have changed. Although I'm still not sure I'd consider it historical fiction, it will be soon, in part because it shows a world we no longer experience.

Nan Hawthorne from Burning Issues in Historical Fiction I suppose I would add that I distinguish between "historical fiction: and "nostalgia". Something written now about the 1960s to me is nostalgia, since there are plenty of people who remember that era.. usually well embroidered! Even WWII is teetering on the edge of nostalgia.

I will quibble with "yesterday" being historical.. it is almost indistinguishable from today and while it may be history, a novel set last Tuesday would not fit most people's idea of histocal fixtion.

Bruce Macbain Maybe the best definition of historical fiction should be what some judge once said of pornography: I can't define it but I know it when I see it.

Bruce Macbain
ROMAN GAMES

Laura Vosika "I know it when I see it" is very much how I feel.

Check back for our next Burniong Issue in Historical Fiction!

A Gift For You For AN INVOLUNTARY KING's Birthday!

AN INVOLUNTARY KING: A TALE OF ANGLE SAXON ENGLAND will be two years old on September 8!

So here's a switch... a birthday gift from AIK to you!  Throughout September. you can download the ebook on Smashwords.com for nothing.. zip.. nada... a 100% discount!

Just go to http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/5636 

After you click on Buy This Book, use this coupon code for 100% of the cover price:

VL67J

Already got it?  Don't wanna read it?  Well then, heck, give it to someone for Leif Errickson Day on October 9  Or is you are a *%$*! Norman-lover, for harold Godwinson's Death Day October 14.

From Nan:  Writing and publishing this book was a lifetime dream and my proudest moment... so far.  Be sure to read the introduction.. it will tell you all about that.

Smashwords, by the way, makes ebooks available in several formats, including Kindle.  Or go buy yours a couple reams of printer paper and you can hold the print version in your hands. 

This offer is good throughout Septeber 2010 and is vvalid anywhere in the world.

Happy Birthday Dear An Involuntary King,
Happy Birthday to You!

Was hæl!(Old English for "Party on!")


Get a discounted autographed print copy from Amazon.com.

See also the continuing story at http://aninvoluntaryking.blogspot.com