Author: ChanAtkins

Character Interview: Kirsty MacDonald From The Dowager’s Dream

~ ChanAtkins ~ 1 Comment

Welcome to another character interview on The Glorious Outsiders, where we are quite possibly a bit addicted to writing, obsessed with memorable characters and like to celebrate being a little bit different! If that sounds like your kind of thing, you are in the right place and it’s a pleasure to have you here!

At the start of each month I post an interview with a character from a book I have enjoyed. I have read other books by author Miriam Hastings so knew I was in for a treat when I recently devoured her new release, The Dowager’s Dream. I’m not usually a fan of historical fiction, however, this book absolutely blew me away and I am still thinking about it weeks after finishing it. The plot is wonderful (rich people trampling all over poor people, just to get a bit richer sums it up crudely) the location is just breathtaking, in fact, a character in its own right, and the people, the characters who make up this novel are completely real to me. And that is what I am always looking for when reading… So often I find myself enjoying a clever plot or a unique location, perhaps even poised on the edge of my seat in anticipation for the next twist in the tale, but if I don’t care about the characters I feel cheated. These characters, particularly Kirsty and Mary, were so incredibly real to me. I wanted them to be real. I wanted to know them, talk to them, confide in them and help them. Since finishing the book, I keep wondering what they are up to… what has happened next. That’s a good book, to me, anyway. That’s a book I will never forget. So, without further ado please welcome Kirsty, my favourite character from the book, to The Glorious Outsiders for her interview. You will find a link to the book at the end and I beg you to check it out!

1. How old are you?

I was 14 the year Miss Mary and I saw the sea-monster trapped in the ice, but now I be near 20.

2. Where do you come from?

I was born on my da’s farmstead which sits in the river valley of Strath Kerrow with its good rich soil, five miles upstream from the sea.

3. Where do you live? Describe it to us

When I was 10 years old I went to work at the manse in the village below the Bighouse, and there I remain to this day with the Minister, Mr MacKenzie, and his daughter,Miss Mary. The manse is a grand stone house with two storeys, it is but a few minutes walk across the dunes to the shore and the fierce waves of the great ocean that stretches all the way to Canada.

4. Do you have a family, if so tell us about them.

Most of my family still live on their croft in Strath Kerrow. There be my granny who is very old and wise and has the sight, my da and mam, my favourite brother Iain, and my wee brother Davy. My eldest brother Peter is married now to my cousin Ruth. I love all my family dearly, look you, but my brother Peter is a wild one and so is Ruth. They are always in trouble with the factor and the Minister – and dragging others into trouble with them.

5. Who is your best friend and why?

I might say that Miss Mary is my best friend and I know she would wish me to think so, but I am her servant so I must always try to please her. This I find a burden for I’m a strong-willed girl, no bobbing head, “yes ma’am, no ma’am, whatever you say ma’am” sortof limmer. I do love her indeed but I need my job – and that will always be in the way of any friendship between one such as me and one such as her.

So I will name my cousin Ruth as my best friend, we both grew up on our family’s farmsteads, me in Strath Kerrow and she in Strath Harrowdale, where we worked as hard as any lad. I think we’ve always been special friends because we the both have no sister, nought but brothers, so we are close tho’ she was always a wild lass, forever leading me into mischief. Truth to tell, she is quieter and less troublesome now she’s a mam with a wee bairn.

6. Who is your worst enemy?

My worst enemy is easy to name; it is the Laird who would steal our land and drive us away, to replace us with an army of great white sheep.

7. What talents do you have? 

I cannae say for sure that I have any. Miss Mary says I make good pastry and barley bread and oatcake, and the Dowager says I’m a fine shot with a pistol – her ladyship even gave me a grand pistol with a pearl handle to have as my own.

8. What flaws do you have?

I am loathe to say I have flaws any more than I have talents. I be an honest servant and a hard worker, a loving daughter and a loyal friend. It is true that I was once unkind to the Laird’s land agent, William Patterson, and aided Peter and Ruth in a cruel deception of the man – but there can be no doubt he deserved it!

9. What do you think people think of you?

Miss Mary would say I am too outspoken and it’s true I believe in saying what I think is right, even to those who think themselves above me; but then there are times she relies upon me as if I were her mam, tho’ I be younger than her and her servant. William Patterson thought me primitive, just an ignorant peasant, as he does us all, and the Laird dislikes me thoroughly for I stand up to him and will no be cowed. I’d say his lady mother, the Dowager, has grown fond of me as I have of her.

I believe – at least I hope – the Welsh shepherd Tom Hughes has a great love for me in his heart and I hope to marry him one day. But not too soon!

10. What do you wish people knew about you?

I wish the gentry knew I was as clever and canny as they are; and I wish my own folk understood why I care so much about Miss Mary – and about her father and the Dowager, too. They may be gentle-born but they are good people and have shown me much kindness.

11. What is your greatest fear?

My greatest fear is that my family will lose their farmstead just as my uncle and auntie already have, and that they will starve as a result and my gentle brother Iain will go for a soldier so he can send home his wages, and then he’ll be likely to die fighting for the Sassenach king against that French devil Napoleon.

12. What is your biggest hope?

 My biggest hope is that the Laird will die before his mother, the Dowager, so that he never gets his hands upon our land.

13. What is your biggest secret?

My biggest secret?

Mebbe my biggest secret is that I smuggled Tom Hughes into the Bighouse one evening. I wanted to awe him with its size and grand furnishings. We were that close to being caught, canoodling in the Laird’s own bed!

14. What is the worst thing you have done to another person?

I have already told how I once helped Peter, Iain and Ruth deceive the factor and agent, William Patterson. With the help of the Minister’s opium and spirit from my da’s still, we fooled him into believing he’d been magicked away by the fey folk.

It was Ruth and her family paid for it and I am truly sorry.

15. What kind of friend are you?

Sometimes I can be unfair to people, I cannae deny it. I have turned against Miss Mary at least once when she did no deserve it, punishing her for the hardships suffered by my relatives when it was no her fault.

16. Is there anything about your life you would change?

I wish folk like my da and mam had rights to their own crofts and could no be made to flit when the Laird takes it into his head to drive them from their homes.

17. Where would you like to be in 5 years time?

In 5 years time I think mebbe I would like to wed Tom. We could go away to Canada where they say land is plentiful, or we could move to Tom’s homeland of Wales and see if we can settle on a farm there. It is hard to know what land there will be for poor working folksuch as us.

18. Do you have any regrets?

What is the point of regrets? Only the wealthy with time on their hands can indulge in them!

19. How would you like to be remembered?

I would like all those who love me well to remember me as one who never gave up easily and always fought for her family and her people – an honest woman strong and brave.

20. What are your hobbies/how do you relax?

When do I have time for hobbies? I work hard from dawn til dark. When I have time to sit still, look you, such as when I’m sitting in the kirk on a Sabbath, I doze off I am that tired!

There are times when I can get away to see my family and we will ceilidh with our friends, those times I enjoy. And, to tell truth, I like to walk with Miss Mary down to the shore on a fine sunny day (rare enough up here) to collect shellfish, or just to smell the clean salty air and listen to her maunder on about her seamaid.

Thank you so much to author Miriam Hastings for lending us the wonderfully charismatic Kirsty to chat to today!

Here is my review of The Dowager’s Dream:

I was curious to read this book as I have enjoyed the author’s other works very much. However, I am not usually drawn to historical fiction so I was unsure. I am so glad I gave it a go as this is one of the best books I have read in a long time and it will stay with me for a long time to come. I had to write my review on the day I finished reading it, so that everything was fresh in my head and I could do it justice!
The story is told from two points of view – minister’s daughter Mary and her maid, Kirsty and the setting is the north of Scotland in the early years of the 19th century. Here, the ordinary folk work the land owned by the Laird of the estate, which he has left in the hands of his mother, the Dowager. People are happy for the most part. Life is tough but so are the people, who gather together to love and obey God under the stern and watchful eye of the minister, Mr Mackenzie. When Mary sees a mermaid, Kirsty believes it to be a bad omen, while the Dowager is as curious and enthralled as Mary. It seems Kirsty is right, however, when the ghastly spoilt Laird returns to announce grand changes. He has plans to evict the tenant farmers and fill his land with profitable sheep and he employs cruel and violent methods to dispose of the peasants, who are less then human primitives in his eyes. This is a story that is hard to sum up. It is brooding and atmospheric, the rugged Scottish highlands almost a character in their own right and it keeps a steady gentle pace that draws you in, comforts you and fills your mind and your heart. I became utterly immersed and lost in the world the author had created. I loved every character, especially the girls telling the story and felt as if I truly knew and understood them. I felt sorrow, anger and fear for the way the tenants were treated and I cheered them all on with every small, brave victory. The mermaid and also selkies are perfect mythical folklore stories woven into the fabric of this mesmerising story and they provided great joy to me as a reader. I was curious, I was involved, I was happy and sad and everything in between. This is a tale of rich people trampling all over poor people just to get even richer and that is something still very relevant today. I implore people to read this book. If you enjoy historical fiction you will love it, but if you enjoy character driven tales and folklore you will also appreciate it greatly. I will be thinking about this and I’m now enduring a true book hangover and missing it immensely!
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And here is the Amazon link!

Celebrating Unsung Indie Heroes

~ ChanAtkins ~ 9 Comments

Just recently I released a new book and I’d say it was one of the most successful launches I’ve had so far and there’s two reasons for that. One, I was better organised and more determined to put to use the advice I’ve picked up since I started publishing in 2013. And two, because I enlisted a little help from my friends.

Pixabay

In this post you will hopefully discover some new authors because I’m going to shine a light on them and point you in their direction. If you are after a new book to read, then look no further as there will be something here for everyone. And in case you didn’t know, indie authors need all the help they can get. It’s very difficult to get your book noticed by readers without spending a lot of money on advertising and marketing – and not all of us have those funds available. The cost of living crisis is making that even harder so where we can help each other out and boost each other, we should.

This post is for them. The unsung indie heroes, of which there are many. These fellow authors helped me out in so many ways with the launch of the book and are there for me in many other ways too, as friends and as fellow professional writers. Not only did they read and review the book, but they posted about it on their blogs, hosted me for Q&A’s, posted in other groups for me, shared my links, graphics and reviews on social media and generally just gave me the boost I needed. I was humbled and very grateful and I’d like to say thank you to them.

For each author you’ll find their website and Amazon page below. I have read work from all of these authors and enjoyed every one very much!

Sim Sansford – my business partner and co-author in the Fortune’s Well trilogy, is also an author in his own right. Sim was one of the authors who read, reviewed and blogged about my latest release! If you like YA paranormal/mystery/supernatural, you’ll enjoy his debut novel Welcome To Denver Falls. He is also working on a fantastic slasher style YA horror series which I’ve had the honour of beta reading!

Website: https://www.simalecsansford.com/

Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sim-Alec-Sansford/e/B07YWGB183?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1690563684&sr=1-1

Paula Harmon – a successful indie author of quirky historical fiction, I first met Paula at a local author event in a library and she later introduced me to Sim at the Blandford Literary Festival they were part of organising. Paula also read, reviewed and blogged about my new book and I’m so thankful!

Website: https://paulaharmon.com/

Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Paula-Harmon/e/B01MV7DG7N?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1690564460&sr=1-1

Richard Dee- a member of our fledgling indie collective, Chasing Driftwood Books, is a very prolific sci-if writer with the most unique stories I’ve ever come across! I’ve read and enjoyed several of his books! Richard also kindly offered to read, review and shout about my latest book!

Website: https://richarddeescifi.co.uk/

Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Richard-Dee/e/B00CN4TTCG?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1690565186&sr=1-1

Karen J Mossman – Karen and I met when both part of an indie collective called Pict Publishing, a supportive network for female authors. Karen is now part of Norns Triad Publications and is another talented and prolific writer who read, reviewed and blogged to support my recent release. Karen does a lot to support authors with review and Q&A slots on her blog.

Website: https://karenjmossman.com/

Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Karen-J-Mossman/e/B00JJY69OO?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1690569825&sr=1-1

K.M Allan – A fantastic blogger who pens extremely useful and inspirational posts about the craft of writing, K.M Allan is also a YA author. Her paranormal series Blackbirch is fantastic and I highly recommend it. A huge thank you to Kate for also helping to support my new book!

Website: https://kmallan.com/

Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/K-M-Allan/e/B0849WFZG9?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1690570462&sr=1-1

MJ. Mallon – Marjorie Mallon is a YA author, poet and blogger with a wide variety of books under her name. I’ve enjoyed many of these – they have all brought a smile to my face and I’d like to thank her for also reading, reviewing and blogging about my newest book! Marjorie is also very supportive towards fellow authors.

Website: https://mjmallon.com/

Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/M-J-Mallon/e/B074CGNK4L?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1690570662&sr=1-1

Helen Pryke – Helen is hugely supportive to other authors, particularly with the running of her amazing Facebook group, Meet The Authors. This group connects readers and writers and gives invaluable marketing opportunities such as posting covers and hosting author takeover days. Helen is also an author of several historical fiction books and crime thrillers. Helen was an early reader of The Day The Earth Turned Book 1: Summer and was kind enough to do an added proofread for me too!

Website:https://pinkquillbooks.wordpress.com/

Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Helen-Pryke/e/B01MXCQ92L%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share

Adeola Sheehy – I’ve known Adeola since her children began attending my writing clubs for home-educated children a few years ago and during that time I’ve been overjoyed to see her own writing career take off. Not only has she written and published a beautiful collection of poetry, she has taken Medium by storm with her own writing, plus the editing/running of several successful publications. I only joined Medium fairly recently and Adeola was kind enough to welcome me in and show me the ropes! She recently read, reviewed and shouted about my new book for which I am extremely grateful!

Website: https://adeolasheehy.com/

Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Adeola-Sheehy/e/B0B22ZN73Z?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1690571420&sr=1-1

Shannon Rohrer – Shannon has been a great support, beta reading, plus reading, reviewing and blogging to help launch my newest release. I recently read her novel Whispers of Nowhere and was blown away by it. I intend to read book two in the series very soon! If you like fantasy with a heavy dose of mythology and folklore, you need to check this series out now!

Website: https://rebeldynasty.wordpress.com/2021/06/20/the-mythos-trials-a-trilogy-complete/

Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Shannon-Rohrer/e/B07DPTDX2W/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1

Now, these are not the only authors I want to highlight so look out for a follow up blog coming soon where I will review some recent gems I’ve read by more unsung indie heroes!

My Entire To-Write List Is In Action!

~ ChanAtkins ~ 6 Comments
Image by Fathromi Ramdlon from Pixabay

In January 2022 I wrote a blog about how I handle having such a long to-write list. Part of coping with so many book ideas is allocating a notebook for each one, so that I can jot down title, blurb ideas, plots, character bios and so on. At that point I was putting the final touches to The Day The Earth Turned series, and the Fortune’s Well trilogy co-written with Sim Sansford. The trilogy is now out and the first book in The Day The Earth Turned series is also out! The other books in the series are also finished and waiting for their release dates.

In the meantime, I’ve been doing my usual crazy thing of writing/editing/jotting ideas and thinking about multiple writing projects at the same time! No change there then, but I don’t worry about it anymore. It’s just the way my mind works.

However, I did suddenly realise the other day that my entire to-write list is now in action. Every book is in some state of progress and even better than that – I have not had any new ideas!!!!

Awesome!

I feel like I can now relax and enjoy getting these books finished and released. They will certainly keep me busy over the next few years!

To keep you updated, here is a list of my to-write list and the stage each one is currently at (I’ve listed them in the order I expect to release them in):

At Night We Played In The Road – the spin-off book from The Boy With The Thorn In His Side series. Works as a standalone but does give spoilers for part 5 of The Boy series… It’s written, it’s had six drafts, its been to beta readers and I’ve responded to feedback. It’s currently with my editor and I’ve already worked on a few structural edits she suggested. I plan to release around May 2024.

The Mess Of Us – long awaited sequel to my debut novel The Mess Of Me. It’s had five drafts and I’m just about to start draft six before sending it to beta readers! Hope to release summer 2024.

The Dark Finds You – the unexpected crossover book that ends the stories in The Boy With The Thorn In His Side universe – brings characters from The Mess Of Me/Us, the Holds End trilogy and Elliot Pie’s Guide To Human Nature together in one storyline with Danny from The Boy series… It’s had five drafts and I absolutely love it. Probably the easiest most addictive book I’ve ever written. I hope to release end of autumn 2024.

Black Hare Valley – written in long-hand in five notebooks, wrote ‘The End’ about a year ago and haven’t touched it since, but I will be diving into the second draft of this once the books above are completely finished and ready for release.

Diary of the Undead – started in a notebook a few years ago then put aside, I recently picked it up again and decided to type up what I had. This led to a few more chapters but I then put it aside to concentrate on everything else!

We hate The Cool Kids – still awaiting a second draft and it’s been about five years now, but I’ll get to it when I can.

The 7th Child – in progress because I have the whole plot nailed down, plus the characters are evolving on a daily basis and I’m adding bits of plot etc too. I’ve also written the first chapter.

The Few – a series to cowrite with Sim Sansford – we recently kicked this off with the first few chapters done!

And that’s it. All the books waiting in notebooks and all the books in my head all in some state of action. I’m really pleased about this but do you know what I’m most pleased about??

Not having any new ideas!!!

The Day The Earth Turned Book 1: Summer is here!!!

~ ChanAtkins ~ 6 Comments

With the benefit of hindsight, I never should have scheduled a book release for a day when I would be totally exhausted from a trip to London to see a band! The Day The Earth Turned Book 1: Summer is finally here and went live yesterday. The moment it went live I was sat at a bus-stop outside Waterloo Station, after a brilliant gig by The Black Keys at the 02 Arena in London. To get there, we had to catch three trains then opted for a pleasant 43 minute walk alongside the river Thames. Once inside the arena, my husband and I grabbed a pint and settled down to enjoy the support acts followed by the band. We have loved this band for a very long time so it was a huge deal to get tickets and their performance was mind-blowing. We loved every second and it was well worth the stress of getting there and back!

After the gig ended, we had to race back to Charlton station to catch the last train there, to get us to the last train at London Bridge, knowing we had already missed the last train at Waterloo which would take us home. We stupidly thought we could just hang out and rest at the station until the morning train came at 5.30am but no, they chuck you out. With nowhere to go, we wandered around the streets of London, taking in views of The London Eye, Big Ben, the houses of Parliament, Downing Street and more…. We walked for hours but then ended up back outside the station with more hours left to kill….

I looked at Amazon and realised my book had been released! Yay!! And I’ve done a pretty good job of promoting it so far in the run up. I’ve posted various blogs about it, made numerous quote and review graphics, secured a good amount of ARC reviews and even organised my own blog tour!

But launch day fell a little flat because I was so tired….

After finally getting the train at Waterloo, we attempted to nap but were soon disrupted by a delay at Woking. The delay meant they then decided not to stop at all the stations between Brockenhurst and Bournemouth so they could make up the time! Never mind the fact that we needed to get off at Christchurch where our car was!

We swore quite a lot but there was nothing we could do and thankfully my mum came and picked us up and drove us to our car and we were home by 8.30am just in time to take our youngest to school! Phew! I walked the dogs and then collapsed on the sofa. I picked up my phone with a feeble attempt at pushing my book on release day, and I was so thrilled to see that lots of my fellow indie authors had already been posting and shouting about it!

Yay other indies – they are the BEST!!!

I had some early reviews too and I just about had the energy to share the posts and thank people and then I fell asleep!

It’s been a busy week and I should have organised some sort of Facebook launch party as I have done in the past, but I was too worn out and to be honest, I’ve never found such things particularly useful for selling books. Mostly, you end up giving away a few for free and then people don’t remember to review them.

Anyway, all that aside, I am very proud of this book and I’m thrilled to bits with what people are saying about it so far!

Here are a few review quotes:

“What I loved about this in particular are the characters, who are so well drawn I felt I knew them straight away. Chess – dealing with her grief not just for her parents but for the future way she saw her life that will never come – having to put her feelings aside to care for her little sister. Reuben – loner, victim of bullies but standing strong, bubbling with anger, but practical and compassionate. Gus – glad the adults have gone, but choosing to take control as soon as he can. George – independent, determined to go it alone, forced into a situation he couldn’t have envisaged – This book is terrifyingly believable.”

“Seriously good! A strange apocalyptic world where the adults have (almost) all been wiped out by a series of diseases and the children have to find a new way to live and survive and have divided themselves into gangs with their own territories and their suspicious outlook about others.
The absolute brilliance of this is the fact that it is not a million miles from what you can imagine as reality, especially after the unprecedented effects of covid 19 and the extreme measures we all faced ourselves with. The unsettled feelings intensify when the children in the story go back to nature and try farming the lands and making use of the animals but then nature seems to take advantage of there being fewer humans about and pushing back to the point of being sinister and the aggressor.
The story is expertly compelling and terrifying at the same time and it is definitely thought provoking and humbling – I absolutely cannot wait to see how the story progresses, although obviously with trepidation! – Terrifying but absolutely brilliant, thank you.”

“Where did I find it: having read this author before, and it was a post apocalyptic story, I jumped at the chance to have an advanced copy.

What I liked: the whole concept for this genre. It was different. Having children in charge changed things as they see life differently. In places the story is dark, mentioning things I didn’t want to dwell on. All the while I felt glued to the page eager to know what would happen next. Other things added to the suspense – not all adults died, and something sinister was happening with nature.

What I didn’t like: that this is a brand new book, which means I have to wait for the next one. I can’t wait!

Overall: this is a brilliantly conceived story. I love things that are slightly different to what you expect. There are several different elements to this story and I constantly wanted to answers. What was really going on? What did it mean? This is a book you need to read, and it will be a hot contender for my book of the year. I absolutely loved it.”

And the book is available here – paperback coming soon!!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Day-Earth-Turned-Book-Summer-ebook/dp/B0C5MP91J7/ref=pd_ci_mcx_mh_mcx_views_0?pd_rd_w=KYqXM&content-id=amzn1.sym.6aea875e-359f-49f3-864f-cff62d586b6a&pf_rd_p=6aea875e-359f-49f3-864f-cff62d586b6a&pf_rd_r=C5GDYYVB846J1K97XMBN&pd_rd_wg=LmAZU&pd_rd_r=293d83fc-ad68-40f9-8453-5c20bb1d05a3&pd_rd_i=B0C5MP91J7: The Day The Earth Turned Book 1: Summer is here!!!