One of the aspects of blogging that always confuses me is when writers don’t always have books out under their real names! With Riverside Lane written by Ginger Black I was surprised to find that one of the authors was actually Julia Thum! Julia has kindly agreed to stay in with me today to tell me a bit more about Riverside Lane and her collaborative writing with Gaynor Pengelly.

If you’re an author who’d also like to stay in with me and tell me about one of your books, please click here for more details.

Staying in with Julia Thum

Welcome to Linda’s Book Bag Julia. Thank you for agreeing to stay in with me, even if you did totally confuse me! Tell me, which of your books have you brought along to share this evening and why have you chosen it? 

Hello Linda and thank you for inviting me to stay in with you.  I have bought you Riverside Lane which I co-authored with Gaynor Pengelly under the pen name Ginger Black.   Here’s a photo of the book – I’d like to claim that’s me reading it but I think we all know it isn’t!

(Now wouldn’t that have been a wonderful reader to have!)

What can we expect from an evening in with Riverside Lane? 

We will enjoy a cozy mystery and an evening of escape to an English village in springtime where curtains twitch behind perfect privets and everybody has a secret.  One reader called the novel “the literary equivalent of a glass of Pimms” and another “Agatha Christie on steroids” so I think that might give you a sense of what to expect.

(‘Agatha Christie on steroids’ – I love that definition. I can’t wait to read Riverside Lane now!)

What else have you brought along and why?

I’ve come with Gaynor, of course, and also a life-size cardboard cut-out of George Clooney.  Riverside Lane is set in our home village of Bray on Thames and Mr Clooney lives a few miles downstream from us.  We like to pretend he’s our neighbour so it seemed appropriate to bring him around to you and we have him in mind to play Riverside Lane’s mystery man, Luca Tempesta, when our novel is made into a film.

(I had no idea it’s possible to purchase a life-size cardboard cut-out of George Clooney on a well known online shopping site until this post, Julia!)

I’ve also bought a picnic basket containing Pimms, of course, as well as take away fish and chips from Heston Blumenthal’s village pub The Crown which features heavily in our novel as the site of all manner of shenanigans and gossip.

(I’ve been eating quite a lot of fish and chips when staying in with authors Julia, but these sound especially good!)

There’s also a manuscript of my new children’s novel, The Witches’ Punchbowl which will be out later this year – I’ve bought it simply because it’s just finished, I’m bursting with excitement about it and feel the need to wave it under everybody’s noses or a few weeks.

(Oo – I love children’s fiction so you’ll have to return when The Witches’ Punchbowl is published and we can have another, different, evening in together.) 

Then we have a huge bar of dark, dark chocolate for pudding and a massive, Alice in Wonderland proportion, pot of earl grey tea with three porcelain cups and saucers as I’m a firm believer that tea tastes better out of good china.

Tea and chocolate are two of my very favourite things so I’ll be inviting you back again to stay in again very soon. Thanks so much for staying in with me and telling me about Riverside Lane Julia.

Thank you so much for having me this evening Linda.  We’ve met on Twitter and through Facebook and it is lovely to finally get together and chat properly.  Good luck with this great new feature – I shall follow it with interest and look forward to the party when you get us all together – I’ll bring George if you like!

I’ll hold you to that!

Riverside Lane

After arranging a house swap with a debonair antiques dealer, a darkly handsome American named Luca Tempesta arrives in a quaint English village. Tempesta, who claims to run a detective agency in Los Angeles, is supposedly on holiday but the inhabitants of the village are unconvinced.

Yet, as they attempt to solve the mystery of the stranger in their midst, it gradually transpires that there are more than enough secrets to go around in the village itself, harboured by the local MP and his uptight, ambitious wife; the has-been former game show host; the respectable couple with the jailbird son; the hometown journalist, striving for a scoop that will rescue her from debt; and so on.

The place is revealed as a labyrinth of deception masquerading as a picture-postcard hamlet; tension begins to mount in between the dinner parties and evenings at the pub, and soon culminates in an unexpected death. Behind perfect privets and brightly painted front doors, the lives of Riverside Lane’s residents slowly unravel.

Tempesta, guarding his secrets with a vengeance, is suddenly threatened with exposure by the elderly religious zealot Ivy Midwinter, whose own past involved keeping professional confidences. When she challenges him in church, she learns that Tempesta will stop at nothing to protect his privacy …

Set against the exquisite backdrop of a gastronomic village by the Thames, Riverside Lane is a tautly paced page-turner that also gently satirises middleclass English manners: the upstanding denizens of the village watch and whisper behind a mask of English hauteur, whilst their own fragile lives come undone.

Riverside Lane is published by Momentum and is available for purchase here.

About Julia Thum

Julia grew up on a farm where she spent her formative years damming streams, riding ponies, losing her wellies in the bog and making tree houses. There was a boring chunk in the middle of life when she tried to be mature and sensible, then her kids came along and gave her the excuse to revert back to childhood.

Julia’s body lives with its family in Bray, on the river Thames, but her mind lives in a world of magical mystery, eccentric people and endless adventures that she shapes into compelling characters and intriguing stories.

Julia is happiest outdoors, on her kayak paddling up the Thames, jogging along the towpath or walking her dog Rumpole. She does occasionally do a bit of cooking and enjoys that, as well as helping the kids with their six tortoises and four rabbits that crawl and hop around our garden. Julia can also be found doing the odd headstand under a tree when the wind is in the east.

As well as writing adult fiction with Gaynor under the pen name Ginger Black, Julia reviews children’s books at Julia Thum, is a regular guest on BBC Berkshire’s Book Club and has just completed her first children’s novel, The Witches’ Punchbowl.

You can follow Julia on Twitter @juliathumwrites, find her on Facebook and visit her website.  You’ll also find Julia with Gaynor as Ginger Black on Twitter and Facebook as well as on their website.

I was so intrigued by the title of Kathy Sharp’s novel, Whales and Strange Stars, that although I didn’t have time to read it I was desperate to be part of the Brook Cottage Books tour and find out more.

Having spent my working life advocating that teachers and students should read as writers and write as readers, I’m also delighted to be sharing Kathy’s post explaining which other authors have influenced her work.

Published by Crooked Cat Books on 12th December 2017, Whales and Strange Stars is available for purchase from your local Amazon site.

Whales and Strange Stars

A sea captain passes through the forgotten port of Wych Ferry, and whiles away an hour relating his traveller’s tales to young Rosamund Euden. He tells her that the stars are different, if you sail far enough, that the horizon isn’t quite real, not when you get there; he speaks of sea serpents and whales, and mysterious islands.

To an impressionable girl who has never left her home, the whales and strange stars of his stories come to symbolise the great outside world she longs to see. The sea captain moves on, unaware of the dramatic events he has set in action as Rosamund’s search for adventure leads her into a world of dangerous secrets in the marshlands of eighteenth century Kent.

Torn between loyalty to her uncles, and her desire to discover what lies beyond the marshes, Rosamund seeks help from an unexpected source. But who can she really trust?

Which Other Writers Have Influenced My Work?

A Guest Post by Kathy Sharp

It’s a standard question, a cliché, even – but it’s worth asking, and answering, too. The absolutely honest answer, from me, is that it changes all the time. Every new book I read (and sometimes an old one that I re-read) will leave its mark on my writing. Every new way of looking at things, every unusual point of view, every fresh subject will show up in my own work to some degree. And every piece of writing that’s dull, sloppy or unimaginative will be a reminder to pull my socks up, too.

Having said that, there are indeed writers whose influence on me is more than just transitory. Patrick O’Brian is one of them; from his writing I learned that the interaction of the characters is the soul of a book. Charles Dickens is another. From Mr Dickens I understood how to use the oddities of human nature – I’m always on the lookout for a character with a Dickensian feel. And then there is Nicholas Montsarrat who taught me about the sea, and the importance of beautiful, clear writing. Among modern writers, I learned from J K Rowling that it is perfectly possible to inject a sense of humour into an essentially serious tale. And all four of these have helped me appreciate the art of storytelling.

Other writers have shown me that a book with minimal plot can be a page-turner if only the characters are interesting enough; that writing a novel entirely in the present tense requires great skill; that a book where the characters are kind to one another need not be dull. I could go on.

Every book I pick up, fact or fiction, teaches me something new. It’s one of the joys of the writer’s life that all reading is research and that the happy results of that research will bob to the surface of your own writing. Some writers are a little afraid of reading, of falling under the influence of another writer and losing their own originality in the process. Not me – bring it on, I say! And there are still so many books I’ve never read, so many more writers who will continue to teach and influence me. There is still so much I don’t know. So if you’ll excuse me, now, I have a book to read…

About Kathy Sharp

Kathy Sharp was born and brought up by the sea in Kent. Life took her inland, and she worked for many years as a desktop publisher for Surrey County Council, and as a tutor in adult education.

And then, one day, she visited a friend who had just moved to the Isle of Portland, Dorset, and fell in love with the place. She has now lived by the sea in the Weymouth and Portland area for more than ten years, and still loves it. The wonderful Jurassic Coast, and Portland in particular, were the inspiration for her Larus Trilogy of novels.

Kathy also sings with, and writes lyrics for, the Island Voices Choir on Portland, and is a keen member of local writing groups, as well as enjoying studying the local flora.

You can find Kathy on Facebook, Goodreads, LinkedIn and on Twitter @KathySharp19. Kathy also has a website and blog for you to visit.

Having stayed in with lots of female authors so far in my new Linda’s Book Bag feature Staying in with…, it’s about time I hosted a man! Today I’m delighted to welcome Phil Rowlands, author of Siena along to tell us all about his psychological thriller.

If you’re an author who’d also like to stay in with me and tell me about one of your books, please click here for more details.

Staying in with Phil Rowlands

Welcome to Linda’s Book Bag Phil. I’m so pleased to be hosting a man for a change! Thank you for agreeing to stay in with me. Tell me, which of your books have you brought along to share and why have you chosen it?

The book I would like to share during our evening together is my debut novel, Siena, which was published in August 2017 by Williams and Whiting. Although I have been a screenwriter for film and TV for many years, Siena is my first book and so introducing it to you is a real treat for me.

What can we expect from an evening in with Siena?

In Siena, I wanted to explore grief and loss, as well as love and retribution. Sara, the main character has to face the worst thing that could ever happen, happening; the unthinkable becoming a reality.

It is her journey from desolation to hope that is the theme of the book. How she gets there, who helps or hinders along the way is the heart of the story.

I wanted to set it in Wales, my homeland, and Siena, a beautiful and historic city and mecca for western artists. Each place has a special cultural and emotional identity. Sara is an artist and the glory of the art in Siena will help free her spirit and introduce her to those who will enhance, stimulate or distract her roller coaster search for truth and closure. The Palio, a race of huge passions, madness and history where the victor is all, is a perfect backdrop to Sara’s journey.

In Wales she meets a man who helps her find the courage, determination and strength to emerge from her darkness and go alone to Siena to find reasons to make sense of what happened to her family. There she will find it but it might not be the truth she seeks.

(Oh – this sounds really interesting Phil.)

Some of the review soundbites have been ‘gripping’ ‘a cracking read’ ‘a stylish and emotionally literate thriller’ ‘good read, gripping to the end’

(You must be delighted that Siena is being so well received.)

What else have you brought along and why? 

For this very special evening I would bring a couple of bottles of good Chianti, a vegetarian curry from Kerala, an EP of my singer/songwriter daughter, the Bruch violin concerto and a Caribbean fruit salad. My other guests would be James lee Burke, Claude Monet, Aphra Benn, and 1940s photographer Lee Miller – the sort of mix that would ensure a stimulating discussion on writing and art.

(I’m certain it would!)

I would also bring along a DVD of the Palio, and a selection of my photo collection of art from Siena and contemporary Wales to help explore my inspiration.

(I had never heard of the Palio before but I’d like to see that DVD. It sounds an exciting spectacle. My husband is Welsh and a photographer so we’ll let him share some photos of Wales with us too Phil!)

Thanks so much for sharing Siena with us Phil. I hope it sells really well.

Siena

Welsh artist Sara Llewellyn’s husband and young son are killed by chance during the shooting of a wealthy Italian in London. The killer disappears and Sara’s pain and grief drive her to the edge of madness. She hides away as her life spins out of control until she meets a Canadian academic researching his Welsh roots. He helps her find some balance and light and provokes a positive start to her recovery. She goes to Italy alone to find answers and is drawn into a world of art, culture, beauty and betrayal that leads to a shattering discovery at the explosive climax of the Palio in Siena.

Siena is available for purchase here.

About Phil Rowlands

Phil Rowlands loves telling stories, having written poems and stories since he was 12 . He has worked as an actor in film, tv, radio and theatre.

You can follow Phil on Twitter @PhilRowlands2. You’ll also find him on Facebook.

I am utterly delighted that I have a copy of The Cover Up by Marnie Riches on my TBR and that Marnie is returning to Linda’s Book Bag today to celebrate today’s publication of The Cover Up.

I’ve been so lucky to feature Marnie before on the blog. When The Girl Who Had No Fear was published Marnie provided a brilliant post on heroines in crime fiction that you can read here. I was also privileged to help reveal Marnie’s Born Bad and you can find out more about that book here.

Published by Harper Collins’ imprint Avon Books, The Cover Up is available for purchase through these links.

The Cover Up

Watch your back. Everyone else will be.

How far would you go to protect your empire?

Manchester’s criminal underworld is reeling from the loss of its leader, Paddy O’Brien. In the wake of her husband’s death, Sheila O’Brien takes charge of the city, and for once, she’s doing things her way.

But she hasn’t reckoned with the fearsome Nigel Bancroft, a threat from Birmingham who is determined to conquer Manchester next.

As a power tussle begins, Sheila is determined to keep control of the empire she has won – even if it means she has to die trying…

Crime Fiction – A Risk Free Walk on the Wild Side

A Guest Post by Marnie Riches

Around the time that my debut crime-thriller – The Girl Who Wouldn’t Die – was published, it came as a surprise when my editor told me that women are overwhelmingly the largest consumers of crime-fiction. I was surprised because, when you consider the content of crime fiction – violence, criminality and abuse – it didn’t strike me as sitting well with the stereotypical interests of women. And yet I am a woman who both loves to read and write crime fiction. I have always adored the genre, ever since I was a child. I loved children’s mystery books just as much as fantasy tales. In adulthood, my taste remains the same. So, why was I so taken aback by the statistics?

Well, for a start, for many years, the chicklit market reigned supreme among women. When I began to write in earnest just over a decade ago, the covers that dominated in bookshops and on supermarket shelves were all pink. Bridget Jones and Love Actually were still everyone’s favourite films. Kathy Lette had paved the way with Mad Cows, writing in the late nineties about a female protagonist who walked through posh shops with frozen peas on her sore, post-natal boobies. Women seemed to need that in their lives. By the mid-late noughties, it was all Sophie Kinsella. Romance. Girly laughs. Nothing really gritty. Except, I was reading the Stieg Larsson Millennium Trilogy and I’m not a fan of girly. I had little love for a “post-feminist” literary landscape that was getting right on my emancipated tits. Seems I wasn’t alone!

The popularity of ultra-feminine, romantic women’s fiction has seen a decline over the past few years with readers migrating to psychological thrillers like Clare Mackintosh’s I Let You Go, CL Taylor’s books like The Lie and The Escape and, of course, Paula Hawkins’ The Girl on a Train. It seemed that women no longer wanted to read romance or about hot vampires in quite such huge numbers. They wanted domestic abuse, twisty dark tales…they wanted to be thrilled and challenged. And it isn’t just psychological thrillers that float women readers’ boats. We love good old fashioned police procedurals and it would seem we also love gangland thrillers. Martina Cole – the godmother of contemporary gangland fiction – has sold tens of millions of copies of her books worldwide. The likes of Kimberley Chambers and DS Mitchell follow in her wake. All female authors. All writing about gangsters and organised crime.

It was my publisher that suggested I write a series of gangland thrillers set in Manchester. The world of commercial fiction didn’t yet have a series set in the North West that would appeal to all those millions of Martina fans. I was delighted to take them up on their challenge, knowing that what readers and I would both enjoy was a walk on the wild side with absolutely no risk. This is why I think that the crime genre remains so popular and why readers – male and female – gravitate towards the sort of books I write. You can inhabit my protagonists’ bodies for a few hours and see what it’s like to live on a rough estate and work on the wrong side of the law. You can wield a gun to get what you want – in your imagination. You can drive that pimped up Porsche Panamera or the Mercedes 4 wheel drive and wear the Louboutins. You can be the boss! You can dole out death sentences and count the piles of cash, all the while, perhaps sitting in your kitchen in your pyjamas with a bag of frozen peas clutched to your chest!

(I think I’ll forego the frozen peas Marnie, but The Cover Up is something I’m definitely hanging on to!)

About Marnie Riches

Marnie Riches grew up on a rough estate in Manchester. She learned her way out of the ghetto, all the way to Cambridge University, where she gained a Masters degree in German & Dutch. She has been a punk, a trainee rock star, a pretend artist, a property developer and professional fundraiser. Previously a children’s author, now, she writes crime and contemporary women’s fiction.

Marnie Riches is the author of The Girl Who Wouldn’t Die – the first installment of the George McKenzie crime thriller series, published by Maze and Avon at Harper Collins.

In her spare time, Marnie likes to run (more of a long distance shuffle, really) travel, drink and eat all the things (especially if combined with travel) paint portraits, sniff expensive leather shoes (what woman doesn’t?) and renovate old houses. She also adores flowers.

You can follow Marnie on Twitter, visit her website and find her on Facebook.

There’s more with these other bloggers too:

Some Linda’s Book Bag visitors feel like old friends and lovely Kathryn Freeman, author of Before You is one such visitor. Consequently, I’m delighted to be staying in with Kathryn today.

As well as reviewing Before You (here) I’ve been lucky enough to feature another of Kathryn’s books, Search for the Truth here, and to host a brilliant guest post from Kathryn all about the difficulty of making things up when you’re a writer. You can read that post here. In addition, when A Second Christmas Wish was released recently, Kathryn kindly told me about her Christmas wishes here.

If you’re an author who’d also like to stay in with me and tell me about one of your books, please click here for more details.

Staying in with Kathryn Freeman

Welcome back to Linda’s Book Bag Kathryn. Thank you for agreeing to stay in with me.

It’s not often I’m invited to stay in with an RNA media star winner, so believe me, the pleasure is all mine. Thank you for inviting me :-).

Ha! Thanks Kathryn. I still haven’t got used to the idea of being award winning! So tell me, which of your books have you brought along to share this evening and why have you chosen it?

I’ve brought Before You, because one of my favourite pasttimes is staying in with a racy romance – and the hero in Before You is a Formula One driver. I know, I know, that’s a terrible pun, but it is true. In fact give me a book to read (preferably a hot romance) and a glass of champagne (I brought some along, because you can’t read about Formula One without it) and I’m in heaven. Add some fish and chips, and you’ll never get rid of me…

(Books, champagne AND fish and chips! Love that combination.) 

What can we expect from an evening in with Before You?

Along with the romance (all my books are, at heart, a romance) you can expect a whirlwind tour of some glamorous places (Melbourne, Monte Carlo, Barcelona to name a few) and to learn how tough it is to be a racing driver. I thought they just drove a car, albeit a lot faster than I did. I didn’t realise that, because of g-forces and cockpit heat, each race is like running a marathon. But if life for my hero is tough on the track, it’s even harder off it. Especially when distractions come in the form of his smart-mouthed, very pretty, PR officer, and a troubled young boy. ‘Sexy, funny, romantic and glamorous’ is how one kind reader described it.

(Oh yes, I remember Aiden very well!)

What else have you brought along and why?

I’ve snuck in the cardboard cut out of Jenson Button that usually stands by my desk, because then we can say we had an amazing night in, drinking champagne with Jenson Button. And I confess, he was also the inspiration behind the book. it’s impossible to have JB’s handsome face looking down at you and not be inspired to write a romance featuring a racing driver!

I’ll let you have Jenson if I can have Bryan Ferry… Thanks so much for staying in with me (and Jenson) Kathryn!

Before You

When life in the fast lane threatens to implode …

Melanie Hunt’s job working for the Delta racing team means she is constantly rubbing shoulders with Formula One superstars in glamorous locations like Monte Carlo. But she has already learned that keeping a professional distance is crucial if she doesn’t want to get hurt.

New Delta team driver Aiden Foster lives his life like he drives his cars – fast and hard. But, no matter how successful he is, it seems he always falls short of his championship-winning father’s legacy. If he could just stay focused, he could finally make that win.

Resolve begins to slip as Melanie and Aiden find themselves drawn to each other –with nowhere to hide as racing season begins. But when a troubled young boy goes missing, everything is thrown into turmoil, including Aiden’s championship dream.

Before You was published by Choc Lit on 7th June 2016 and is available for purchase on Amazon UK and Amazon US.

About Kathryn Freeman

Kathryn was born in Wallingford, England but has spent most of her life living in a village near Windsor. After studying pharmacy in Brighton she began her working life as a retail pharmacist. She quickly realised that trying to decipher doctor’s handwriting wasn’t for her and left to join the pharmaceutical industry where she spent twenty happy years working in medical communications. In 2011, backed by her family, she left the world of pharmaceutical science to begin life as a self-employed writer, juggling the two disciplines of medical writing and romance. Some days a racing heart is a medical condition, others it’s the reaction to a hunky hero…

With two teenage boys and a husband who asks every Valentine’s Day whether he has to bother buying a card again this year (yes, he does) the romance in her life is all in her head. Then again, her husband’s unstinting support of her career change goes to prove that love isn’t always about hearts and flowers – and heroes can come in many disguises.

You can follow Kathryn on Facebook, on Twitter @KathrynFreeman1 and visit her website.

It’s always exciting when there is an author and series to discover and I’m delighted to be part of the celebrations for James Nally’s Games With The Dead. I haven’t had chance to read Games With The Dead yet but am very much looking forward to doing so and it’s tucked away in my suitcase for an upcoming trip.

Games With The Dead is published by Avon Books, an imprint of Harper Collins, and is available for purchase through this link.

Games with the Dead

Irish runaway. Insomniac. Functioning alcoholic.

Life is about to get complicated for DC Donal Lynch.

When a young woman is kidnapped, Donal is brought in to deliver the ransom money. But the tightly-planned drop off goes wrong, Julie Draper is discovered dead, and Donal finds his job on the line – a scapegoat for the officers in charge.

But when Donal is delivered a cryptic message in the night, he learns that Julie was killed long before the botched rescue mission. As he digs further into the murder in a bid to clear his own name, dark revelations make one thing certain: the police are chasing the wrong man, and the killer has far more blood on his hands than they could even imagine.

A gripping, brutal and addictive thriller, perfect for fans of Ian Rankin and James Oswald.

Normal, Not Paranormal

 A Guest Post by James Nally

Three books in and I’ve discovered that you lot, fans of crime fiction, can be a pragmatic and cynical bunch! Sure, your reviews to date have been mercifully kind, for which I’m eternally grateful. But there’s been one universal gripe, the sight of which threatens to snap my last functioning nerve. Typically, it goes something like this: ‘I love the characters / plots / humour, but not the paranormal stuff.’

You see, the hero of my series and latest novel, Games with the Dead, endures terrifying nocturnal encounters with dead people. More specifically, whenever DC Donal Lynch gets close to a recently-murdered body, that victim comes back to haunt and torment him until he finds their killer. It might sound ‘out there’ but I’ve got news for those who dismiss it as ‘hooky’: Donal Lynch’s surreal visions are not paranormal! In fact, there’s a good chance you’ve shared the same gruesome, hallucinatory phenomenon yourself, it’s just that your brain has consigned it to the recycle bin.

Donal suffers from a condition called Sleep Paralysis which afflicts a surprising amount of us. Indeed, one scientific study claims that over half of us experience at least one Sleep Paralysis episode during our lifetimes. So, what is it?

It all starts when we enter REM or dreaming sleep. Our bodies are hard-wired to go into paralysis so that we don’t act out those dreams and take someone’s eye out. When you wake, your dreams are supposed to snap off like a light, allowing normal bodily functions to return. But what if your dreaming brain doesn’t switch off? This is at the root of the sleep paralysis experience and where it all starts to get very weird…

What follows is an almost perfect neurological storm. You wake but you can’t move, so you panic. Your eyes are open, you can see the ceiling above you, but still you can’t move a muscle. You feel weight or pressure on your chest, convincing you that someone or something is climbing aboard! Your amygdala – the ‘fight or flight’ trigger in your brain that detects danger – is on high alert. In short, you’re awake, unable to move, terrified and convinced something is on top of your chest, intent on dispensing real harm.

Your brain grapples to justify the terror you feel, so it hallucinates your worst fear, typically a ghost, witch or, as depicted in Henry Fuseli’s famous 1781 painting “The Nightmare”, a demon.

Indeed the ‘mare’ in the word ‘nightmare’ derives from the Norse word ‘mara’, which refers to a supernatural being – usually female – that lies on people’s chests at night suffocating them.

Every night, I leave my bedroom door open, but she never shows…

Anyway, historians now believe that victims of Sleep Paralysis triggered the hysteria that led to the infamous Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Accused witch Susan Martin had reportedly told Robert Downer that ‘some She-Devil would shortly fetch him away’. That night, Downer claimed ‘as he lay in his bed, there came in at the window, the likeness of a cat, which flew upon him, took fast hold of his throat, lay on him a considerable while, and almost killed him.’ Poor Susan and many other innocent women were executed because sufferers of sleep paralysis had woken to find a wizened old homicidal hag on their chests, for witches had become the bogeywomen of the day.

Studies have uncovered similar, localised tormentors. Two of the best-documented examples are Kanashibari in Japan, and the Old Hag of Newfoundland.

The term Kanashibari, meaning ‘to tie with an iron rope’, comes from the belief that ancient Buddhist monks could use a mystical restraint to paralyse others. The Old Hag phenomenon is recorded mostly in Newfoundland. Across the Caribbean, the local term for sleep paralysis is kokma, interpreted as the souls of unbaptised babies strangling victims in their sleep. Meanwhile, since the 1950s in the western world, alien abduction has become the latest culturally-influenced incarnation of sleep paralysis.

In his Sleep Paralysis episodes, Donal Lynch just happens to see people whose murders he’s investigating. And they’re always trying to tell him something. In book three, we finally found out why.

It turns out Donal has a gift, wrapped in a family curse, that only his mother can explain…

If she lives long enough…

(Crikey James. Having suffered from hallucinations last summer when I was ill, just reading your guest post has brought me out in goosebumps…)

About James Nally

James Nally was a journalist for 15 years, before leaving to become a producer and director of TV and film. This is his first novel, and is based on his experiences of his years writing about the murder victims of London.

You can follow James Nally on Twitter @jimnally.

There’s more with these other bloggers too:

It was last April when I was so excited to meet Erica James, author of Coming Home to Island House at the Deepings Literary Festival in my home town and to have afternoon tea with her. You can read about that event here. Having been privileged to help reveal the cover to Coming Home to Island House in July last year, I would like to thank Elaine Egan at Orion for sending me an advanced reader copy in return for an honest review.

I have also previously reviewed another of Erica’s books, The Dandelion Years here.

Coming Home to Island House will be published by Orion on 11th January 2018 and is available for pre-order here.

Coming Home to Island House

It’s the summer of 1939, and after touring an unsettled Europe to promote her latest book, Romily Temple returns home to Island House and the love of her life, the charismatic Jack Devereux.

But when Jack falls ill, his estranged family are called home and given seven days to find a way to bury their resentments and come together.

With war now declared, each member of the family is reluctantly forced to accept their new stepmother and confront their own shortcomings. But can the habits of a lifetime be changed in one week? And can Romily, a woman who thrives on adventure, cope with the life that has been so unexpectedly thrust upon her?

My Review of Coming Home to Island House

Marrying Jack Devereux will bring challenges for author Romily Temple that she can’t possibly anticipate.

I’ve always enjoyed Erica James’ writing, but I thought Coming Home to Island House was one of her best novels and I thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed it. I felt the title was inspired as it made me think of John Donne’s ‘no man is an island’ because so much of the story is based around relationships. Erica James understands flawlessly how we interact with our families and within society, with an overall message that, indeed, no man or woman is an island. I found the exploration of how we become who we are, through the way we are treated by others, or we perceive we have been treated, was very thought provoking. Even the abominable Arthur was an understandable character (despite the fact I could quite cheerfully have throttled him with my bare hands).

And it is the people in Coming Home to Island House that make it such a compelling read. Arthur aside (whom I loathed without reservation even at the end of the book) I felt I could happily have spent time with any one of the people between the pages. Whilst some minor characters are slightly stereotypical, such as the pompous vicar, the protagonists are wonderfully drawn individuals. These are real, flawed, complex people with lives that are challenging, imperfect and captivating to the reader. I loved Romily and Florence in particular. They come from opposing ends of the social spectrum but have many similar qualities so that there is a very clear message that birth and money do not equal worth and value.

What I so enjoyed, was that whilst World War Two is so frequently a backdrop to what might be called women’s fiction, Erica James uses it as a catalyst for action so skilfully, providing a sensitive insight into the impact of those directly and indirectly affected by its events, giving the reader a wonderful understanding of the time and the people. There’s also a smashing depiction of village life and the way in which the mores of society evolved and changed at the time. I’d love to see this novel picked up for a television drama as I think it has all the elements of perfect Sunday evening viewing, exploring as it does social standing, adultery, illegitimacy, feminism and patriotism.

Coming Home to Island House has a cracking plot too. At times it is surprisingly almost brutal but always realistic so that whilst I began reading the story thinking smugly that I knew how it would all pan out, I found several surprises along the way, making for a highly entertaining and very satisfying read. It might sound trivial, but I also loved the way the chapters were constructed. In a busy life, a short chapter that really packs a punch, ends brilliantly and leads on the reader to the next part of the narrative, but is short enough to be read in its entirety in 10 minutes or so is just a delight.

Coming Home to Island House is Erica James at her very best. It has wonderful characters, an engaging plot and mature, thought-provoking themes making it a fulfilling, hugely enjoyable read. I really recommend it.

About Erica James

With an insatiable appetite for other people’s business, Erica James will readily strike up conversation with strangers in the hope of unearthing a useful gem for her writing. She finds it the best way to write authentic characters for her novels, although her two grown-up sons claim they will never recover from a childhood spent in a perpetual state of embarrassment at their mother’s compulsion.

The author of many bestselling novels, including Gardens of Delight, which won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award, and her Sunday Times top ten bestsellers, Summer At The Lake and The Dandelion Years, Erica now divides her time between Suffolk and Lake Como in Italy, where she strikes up conversation with unsuspecting Italians.

You can find Erica on Facebook, follow her on Twitter and visit her website.

I’m so thrilled to welcome back Holly Seddon, author of Don’t Close Your Eyes, to Linda’s Book Bag. Holly scared the living daylights out of me with a guest post entitled Closer to Home when Don’t Close Your Eyes was originally released and you can read that post here.

If you’re an author who’d also like to stay in with me and tell me about one of your books, please click here for more details.

Staying in with Holly Seddon

Welcome back to Linda’s Book Bag Holly. Thank you for agreeing to stay in with me. Tell me, which of your books have you brought along to share and why have you chosen it?

The book I’ve brought along is Don’t Close Your Eyes, my second novel. I’d describe it as a thriller wrapped in a family drama. It follows the lives of Robin and Sarah, non-identical twins who were separated as children and who are now broken in different ways. Once a successful musician, Robin is now a recluse living in a state of paranoia – with good reason. Sarah has been thrown out of her home, kept from her little girl and believes that her twin is the one person who can save her, whatever the cost.

What can we expect from an evening in with Don’t Close Your Eyes?

I thought I’d share some reader quotes:

“This book really was excellent. I loved the characters (except the ones I loved to hate!), the chapters set in the 90s were such a treat to read, and there were plenty of twists and turns that I did not see coming.” – NatalieBB on Amazon

“This is a novel about two sisters, twin sisters, Sarah and Robin. The novel alternates between Sarah’s first person narrative and Robin’s third person narrative. It also alternates between the present day and the past, starting in 1989 and then slowly moving forward year by year to trace the lives of the girls; gradually revealing the complex, dysfunctional family life of Sarah and Robin and gradually revealing why they are struggling so much in their present.” – Katherine Sunderland

“Don’t Close Your Eyes is the much anticipated second novel by Holly Seddon. If you’re going to start reading this one, you’re going to have to make sure that you don’t have any plans for the rest of the day, it’ll grab you from the first page and you literally won’t be able to put it down until you have finished, prepare to be hooked by Holly.” – Jacob Collins

(Those are wonderful responses Holly and as I know those particular reviewers are brilliant, you must be thrilled.)

What else have you brought along and why? 

Well, Robin from Don’t Close Your Eyes is a former rock guitarist and she and her close friend (no spoilers) spend a lot of time playing guitar as teenagers, channelling their adolescent rage into music as so many of us do. So I think the music would be classic rock, nothing too heavy for our cosy evening though!

So much of Don’t Close Your Eyes features the girls’ 90s childhoods and teen years, so I think we can have some 90s food and drink. Maybe some Tango for the non-drinkers, and I’m afraid – if we’re true to the era – probably some alcopops and Malibu and Coke for the rest. I’ll bring some wine anyway though!

Let’s have some Pop Tarts and Choco Dips for those with a sweet tooth, some Ferrero Rocher for the fancier among us. Definitely some Micro Chips. And whatever party food we have, you can be sure there’ll be some sour cream dip on the side. I feel like my whole 90s experience was dipped into sour cream.

(Crikey Holly. I’m not sure staying in with you is good for my waistline! Thanks so much for sharing Don’t Close Your Eyes with us.)

Don’t Close Your Eyes

Robin and Sarah weren’t the closest of twins. They weren’t even that similar. But they loved each other dearly. Until, in the cruellest of domestic twists, they were taken from one another.

Now, in her early 30s, Robin lives alone. Agoraphobic and suffering from panic attacks, she spends her days pacing the rooms of her house. The rest of the time she watches – watches the street, the houses, the neighbours. Until one day, she sees something she shouldn’t…

And Sarah? Sarah got what she wanted – the good-looking man, the beautiful baby, the perfect home. But she’s just been accused of the most terrible thing of all. She can’t be around her new family until she has come to terms with something that happened a long time ago. And to do that, she needs to track down her twin sister.

But Sarah isn’t the only person looking for Robin. As their paths intersect, something dangerous is set in motion, leading Robin and Sarah to fight for much more than their relationship…

Don’t Close Your Eyes is available for purchase here.

About Holly Seddon

Holly Seddon is a full time writer, living slap bang in the middle of Amsterdam with her husband James and a house full of children and pets. Holly has written for newspapers, websites and magazines since her early 20s after growing up in the English countryside, obsessed with music and books.

Her first novel Try Not To Breathe was published worldwide in 2016 and became a national and international bestseller.

You can follow Holly on Twitter @hollyseddon, visit her website or find her on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram.

When I was inspecting, consulting and advising on literacy and English I was a firm advocate of tying in sport and literacy as a means to involve as many children as possible. With this in mind, when I realised Jordan Lyons had a new sports based book, Crunch Time Cam, out for young readers I had to ask him onto Linda’s Book Bag to discuss his thoughts about sports and literacy and he has written a super guest post to share today.

Crunch Time Cam is published today, 9th January 2018, and is available for purchase here.

Crunch Time Cam

Basketball is in Cameron Flint’s blood. His brothers are taking the state by storm with their play on the school’s varsity team. Cam hopes he can do the same one day, but he has a few years to go.

Now that he’s finally old enough to join the local league, Cam is eager to live up to the family legacy there. He has the talent, but there’s only one problem: Cam’s teammates have barely played basketball before. Can Cameron’s explosive play elevate his team to the level of league champions or will he fail to live up to the family name?

Crunch Time Cam is a fast-paced, action-packed sports novel for young readers that reminds us that basketball is a team sport.

Sports and Literacy

A Guest Post by Jordan Lyons

For kids (and all of us, really), life can be an aggregation of anxiety and stress. It’s full of social and academic pressures. Children and teens seek an oasis from this drudgery just like we do. Often they turn to tiny screens filled with social media, video games, or whatever their favorite apps happen to be. Those distractions aren’t necessarily bad things, but suggesting activities such as sports and literacy can have a big impact on how your child develops and create lifelong habits for them.

Strangely enough, it seems like sports and literacy are often pitted against one another. It’s the nerd versus jock stereotype, right? But in actuality, they can go hand in hand and help to build similar habits. The benefits of these two facets of life are numerous, but I’m going to detail some of my favorites:

Sports & Athletics

Social Skills

Sports can develop or round out many different social skills. Teamwork, participation, effort, practice, dedication, communication – I feel like I could go on and on. These skills won’t be limited to the playing field either. They will use them in school and in their careers.

Health

Exercise is an obvious one, but it is crucial to kid’s lives:

Higher activity rates in children are correlated with higher test scores.

Exercise lowers the risk of many diseases and obesity.

Frequent exercise decreases symptoms of depression and anxiety in children.

Life Lessons

Athletics are competitions and in competitions, there are usually winners and losers. Sports can help kids learn how to cope with the fact that life is not perfect and sometimes you might lose or fail. Often times, those moments are the ones where we learn the most and motivate us to improve.

Literacy & Reading

Walk In Someone Else’s Shoes

The world of literature is filled with characters with different stories and worldviews. Connecting with these characters who have different values or perspectives and seeing that these characters are just like the reader produces empathy for others that kids might not get otherwise. Often times these experiences might not come unless you can travel the globe. The good news is that going to your local library is more affordable than traveling the world.

Education

Reading outside of the formal classroom is a large boon to your child’s learning. It will boost their vocabulary and make them more comfortable with school texts. Research indicates that when children are reached with high quality early learning experiences, they are 40% less likely to fall behind in school and 70% more likely to graduate from high school.

Health

Health can be a key benefit of reading, too. But perhaps it is less obvious than in sports. Reading has been shown to improve memorization. Getting engrossed in a story also reduces stress or anxiety. Creating a bedtime ritual of reading will also aid in sleep.

The great thing about sports and literacy is that you can start building passion and habits for them right now. It is as easy as heading to your local library, turning off the TV, reading to your kids, or going outside to play kick a soccer ball as a family.

About Jordan Lyons

Jordan Lyons is an author and podcaster based in Central Florida. His new book, Crunch Time Cam, following a young basketball player struggling to live up to the family name is available for as a paperback or an e-book.

To find out more about Jordan, visit his website, find him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter @lyonsjor.

My grateful thanks to Beth Eynon at Blink for an advanced reader copy of Running For My Life: How I Built a Better Me One Step At A Time by Rachel Cullen in return for an honest review.

Running For My Life: How I Built a Better Me One Step At A Time will be published by Blink, the adult non-fiction imprint of Bonnier Zaffre on 11th January 2018 and is available for purchase here.

Running For My Life: How I Built a Better Me One Step At A Time

Suffering from depression but desperate for ‘normality’, Rachel Cullen found herself in failing relationships, the wrong career and a reliance on alcohol and chocolate to get her through each day. Stuck in an endless cycle of mental misery, she put on a pair of old trainers.

She’d never been able to think of herself as a ‘runner’ before, and the first time she forced herself out the door, she knew it would hurt. Everywhere. She just didn’t realise how much it would heal her, too.

Interspersed with Rachel’s real diary entries, from teenage non-runner to London Marathon finisher (just months after giving birth), she questions if she really can outrun her demons.

My Review

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Running For My Life: How I Built a Better Me One Step At A Time

With a history of depression and self-loathing Rachel Cullen knows all about how hard life can be, but she also knows how to get back on track.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book, fearing it might be too introspective and personal an account for me to relate to, but I thought Running For My Life was excellent. Although it is non-fiction, Rachel Cullen has a literary turn of phrase so that at times this felt more like a narrative than an exposition. Rachel Cullen is not afraid to tell it like it is, with a healthy smattering of judiciously used expletives and just the right balance of diary extract, explanation and a wonderful first person account that draws the reader along with her journey and engrosses them in what she has to say. I liked the way in which the diary entries were not in chronological order as they show the way in which Rachel’s personality vacillated and fluctuated over time. Their out of synch inclusion reflected her life and attitudes over the years perfectly.

Although I have absolutely no interest in running a marathon, readers don’t need to have any of the same ambitions or problems as Rachel has endured to enjoy this book immensely.  However, I did indeed find many echoes of my own life (I was that round child who was useless at sport) or of those I know (I have a bi-polar family member who suffers from social anxiety disorder). Even if other readers have none of the same experiences, I think we’ve all held some self-doubt at some point in our lives, and the raw honesty of this writing allows us to comprehend fully exactly what Rachel has gone through. I feel I have a far better understanding of Rachel, of myself and of humanity having read Running for My Life.

I thought Running for My Life was honest, interesting and encouraging without being glib or simplistic. I recommend it most highly to those with mental health issues themselves or in people they know and equally to those who simply want a fascinating, surprisingly entertaining and informative read. It’s a super book.

About Rachel Cullen

Rachel Cullen has always loved to write. She graduated from Northwestern University with Honors in Religious Studies and then earned her MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business with a focus in marketing and finance.

Before Rachel started writing, she worked in brand strategy consulting and marketing for over ten years, moving between San Francisco, London and Manhattan.

You can follow Rachel on Twitter @writtenbyrach. Rachel also has a blog and you can find her on Facebook.