It’s always a pleasure to ‘meet’ new to me authors and today I’m delighted to welcome Robert Croly to stay in with me and tell me all about his latest book. I also need to apologise to Robert as I had intended to post this yesterday as part of a YA feature but life got the better of me.

Staying in with Robert Croly

Welcome To Linda’s Book Bag Robert, Thank you so much for staying in with me today.

Thank you for inviting an unknown to the hallowed reams of established authors. Being here feels like swimming among sharks! Especially as I’m probably the only writer here aiming at the very difficult 11 – 15 age group.

It’s my pleasure – and I feature young adult and children’s books quite frequently so you’re in good company. Tell me, which of your books have you brought along to share this evening and why have you chosen it?

I have brought along my latest self published book, P.J. Holden – Freedom Fighter. I have brought it as a sequel to my second book, The Boys of Junior Red, and it completes the vision I have of a successful society on a new world, suddenly threatened by the very world they originally came from.

It gives me the chance to really expand how important the freedom we take for granted is, and the possible sacrifices necessary to retain it.

Oh. I have a feeling that both books are incredibly relevant to today’s world Robert.

What can we expect from an evening with P.J. Holden – Freedom Fighter?

The book follows the adventures of a group of youngsters raised in this new unspoiled world living in what is basically an agrarian society, where much of a distant Earth’s technical miracles have been forgotten, leading to a distinctly prosperous community, which has made the grave error of sending a ship back to a dystopian Earth, ruled by a corrupt United Nations, informing them of the success of the colony.

The returning ship is doom laden for this blissful world, bringing military threat and more corrupt leadership. Against this overwhelming might, the farmers and scientists are helpless, and only the tiny naval facility and academy, with its few officers and cadets, decide to stand firm in their determination to keep their way of life. The book follows their adventures in this fight.

That sounds scarily possible. Where did you get the idea of your characters?

I forge my characters from normal kids with their innocence and vulnerability, into acts of immense courage and determination, and while I try to keep the action realistic, I do not let it get too visceral.

From the few kids who have read the final mss, I am pleased and relieved that they all liked the book, one even wishing he could be a naval cadet! I am not afraid of adult review, but I am far more concerned with what my target readers think. After all they are why I love to do this, and to see a kid select one of my books from a shelf would be heaven sent for me.

I think adults love fiction for younger writers too Robert. I know I do. But I agree, positive feedback from your target audience would be a real thrill. What interests you about the sci-fi genre?

The sci-fi genre does let writers fly free with little restraint, so I try to keep the gadgetry to a minimum. Character and a feeling for this new world are more important, and I believe my young readers can get along without lightspeed spaceships and horrific monsters. I have actually eased a possible alien factor into both books, but not to take front stage, so to speak!

So there it is. I have stacks of ideas pending for the future, so I will continue doing this lonely but so satisfying job, and hopefully one day we will see more young people put down those phones and pick up a book, – even if it isn’t one of mine !!

Ha! Even if they don’t put down their phones, maybe they could read an ebook version of P.J. Holden – Freedom Fighter on them! 

What else have you brought along with you this evening and why have you brought it?

My perfect idea for an evening at the keyboard, includes a stack of CD’s blasting movie soundtrack music, especially John Williams or Dimitri Tiomkin, even Elmer Bernstein. To further help the thought process, a generous glass of Mister Jack Daniels should be in reach. Using the memories of a long active life, I have more than enough plots to bring to life.

I think that P.J. Holden – Freedom Fighter sounds great Robert. Thanks so much for staying in with me to chat about it. Now, you put on some music and I’ll give Linda’s Book Bag readers a few more details. 

P.J. Holden – Freedom Fighter

Haven Port was a beautiful colony, the only colony outside the solar system, with seemingly nothing to trouble its inhabitants ‒ that is
until the arrival of the first ship to make the return trip from Earth. What it brought would cause tragedy and conflict, because the settlers valued their way of life and were not about to lose it without a fight ‒ even against overwhelming odds!

P.J. Holden – Freedom Fighter is available for purchase on Amazon, Blackwell’s, Waterstones, YPS and Gardners.

About Robert Croly

Robert Croly was born in Scotland; but has lived most of his life in Norfolk. Apart from regular trips to California and the western states for research on new story lines. He spent most of his working life in the book printing trade, covering most aspects of the process. Despite this he still loves books! An enthusiastic biker with an inside knowledge of youth motorcycle road racing, which made his book, The Kid in White Leathers the first novel on racing for youngsters. He started writing after retiring, deciding to concentrate on writing stories to encourage kids to pick up a book and read; simple as that! He says, ‘My characters are like my kids; if you like them, I’ve got it right. Nothing beats that!

When I got married my husband and I had our honeymoon in Paris. Steve had been a perpetual student, finishing his Ph.D. before doing the P.G.C.E where we’d met ten months earlier and I’d only completed my degree the year before so we were fairly limited in what we could do. However, Paris provided us with the perfect few days and we returned with a better budget 25 years later for our silver wedding anniversary. Consequently, Paris holds a special place in my heart and so I’m delighted to participate in the cover reveal for Olivia Spring’s My Paris Romance with Rachel’s Random Resources.

Let’s find out all about the book:

My Paris Romance

My Paris Romance: Falling in love with a billionaire…

Cassie swore she’d never fall for another rich guy. Her heart has other ideas.

After a whirlwind holiday romance with hot billionaire Frenchman Nico, personal assistant Cassie receives an invitation to visit him in Paris.

Although she’d love a fairy-tale reunion, Cassie cannot fall for Nico. They live in different countries, come from different worlds, plus he’s more loaded than a bank vault. And after her rich ex and his snooty family left her feeling heartbroken and worthless, Cassie swore off dating wealthy guys. If she’d known Nico was France’s most eligible bachelor when they met, she’d never have got involved.

But their connection is undeniable and she’d be crazy not to see him again. If Cassie suppresses her feelings and just goes for the experience, she can avoid getting hurt, right?

Except when Nico sweeps her off her feet with a string of sexy, romantic dates around Paris, her plan not to fall in love unravels. She hopes he feels the same, but then a shocking revelation turns her world upside down…

Can they overcome their obstacles? And will Cassie get the happily-ever-after she’s been dreaming of?

Order this fun, steamy, fish-out-of-water, billionaire romantic comedy now and join Cassie in Paris to find out!

Read as a standalone novel or as book three in the My Ten-Year Crush series.

Publishing on 30th August 2022, My Paris Romance is available for pre-order on Amazon UK and Amazon US.

About Olivia Spring

Olivia Spring is a British, London-based writer of contemporary women’s fiction, sexy chick lit and romantic comedy. Her uplifting debut novel The Middle-Aged Virgin, which was released in 2018, deals with being newly single in your thirties and beyond, dating, relationships, love, sex and living life to the full.

In addition to The Middle-Aged Virgin, Olivia has published The Middle-Aged Virgin in Italy, Love Offline, Losing My Inhibitions, Only When It’s Love and the sequel When’s The Wedding?

Olivia’s seventh novel, My Ten-Year Crush, was published in September 2021. Book two in the series, My Lucky Night followed in November 2021 and book three, My Paris Romance will be published in summer 2022.

When she’s not writing, Olivia can be found enjoying cupcakes and cocktails and of course, seeking inspiration for her next book!

You can find out more by following Olivia on Twitter @ospringauthor, visiting her website or finding her on Facebook, Instagram and Bookbub.

Today I’m thrilled to share another of my My Weekly magazine online reviews. This time I’ve been reading Rachael Blok’s The Fall.

Published by Head of Zeus imprint Aria on 14th April 2022, The Fall is available for purchase through the links here.

The Fall

The sins of the past echo in the present in the new literary thriller from crime-critic favourite, Rachael Blok.

The bigger the sin, the further the fall…

With Easter approaching, the verger of St Albans Cathedral was supposed to be readying the church. Instead he discovers a man lying dead, fallen from the famous 150-foot-high tower. Did he jump, or was he pushed?

For DCI Maarten Jansen, it’s a simple case of suspected suicide. Until a stranger, Willow, who witnessed the jump, prompts a deeper investigation into a long-buried past, involving a psychiatric hospital, a pregnant woman, and fifty years of silence. As Willow’s own family history entwines with the case, Jansen starts to wonder how everything is connected.

The Fall is a haunting literary thriller about loss, trauma, silence, and how our past shapes who we are.

My Review of The Fall

My full review of The Fall can be found on the My Weekly website here.

However, here I can say that The Fall is a fast paced and exciting narrative that I thoroughly enjoyed. If The Fall is indicative of other books in the DCI Maarten Jansen series then I have some serious catching up to do. I thought it was riveting.

Do visit My Weekly to read my full review here.

About Rachael Blok

Rachael Blok is a best-selling author of the UK crime series set in the cathedral city of St Albans. Here, DCI Maarten Jansen struggles against his plain-speaking Dutch upbringing when faced with the seemingly polite world of the picturesque city.

About writing, she has said: ‘I’m constantly surprised how differently stories turn out on paper than in their original planning. Fiction has a life of its own’.

For further information, follow Rachel on Twitter @MsRachaelBlok, visit her website or find her on Facebook and Instagram.

The genres that don’t feature on Linda’s Book Bag nearly enough are fantasy and young adult fiction, so it gives me great pleasure to welcome D. A. Mucci to the blog today to tell me all about one of his books. Let’s find out more:

Staying in with D.A. Mucci

Welcome to Linda’s Book Bag David and thank you for agreeing to stay in with me.

Tell me, which of your books have you brought along to share this evening and why have you chosen it?

Today I’m sharing with you the Young Adult Lit fantasy book: Ignatius and the Swords of Nostaw.  It was released in October 2021.

I don’t read much fantasy David. How did Ignatius and the Swords of Nostaw come about?

In addition to being an author, I’m an emergency room physician.  When the pandemic hit, my wife encouraged me to write the book I had been thinking about writing for years. With everything shut down, professional sports, theater, even dinner out with friends, my wife saw that I needed something to immerse myself in to take my mind off the horrors I was seeing in the ER.  So I dove into writing my story.  My co-workers would ask how the book is going and I would share some of the story with them.   One of my co-workers even started writing her own book.  When you work in a stressful environment, it is important to have a passion that you can work on that helps you get the stresses off your mind so you don’t burn out.  Writing was my way to do that.

I can’t imagine what an awful time you must have had. How wonderful that something so creative came out of such horrors.

What can we expect from an evening with Ignatius and the Swords of Nostaw?

This story is filled with a very diverse set of characters embroiled in a fantastical adventure.   There are all kinds of unlikely heroes and characters of all ages, genders races, ethnicities, abilities and disabilities. I wanted every reader to have a character they could identify with, not necessarily like them since there are good guys and bad guys in the story, but characters like the one who doesn’t always have confidence in themselves, the one who others think is dingbat crazy but are the most heroic, the the quiet character that finds their voice when something important happens they really care about, the person in power who doesn’t like what they are doing but goes along with things to protect a loved one.  I am hoping each reader can connect with a character and find themselves rooting for the main character, Iggy.

With the kind of world we’re living in, I think any fiction that aims to be inclusive is more important than ever. Ignatius and the Swords of Nostaw sounds very much needed.

What else have you brought along with you and why have you brought it?

I have brought along some photos and background on a few of the fantasy creatures from my story. While authors describe the creatures they create in their mind, my wife decided to have an illustrator help readers visualize the creatures and had those illustrations loaded up onto my author website, DAMucci.com.

The first creature is a Tipei (pronounced like tip pee)

A Tipei is a Surviving from prehistoric times, the first tipeis came to Matreach from the faraway land of Alkebulan with the fierce Dahomey warrior, Nzinga. The tipeis and Nzinga quelled the corrupt takeover of Matreach by Minister Jetrix. To this day the tipeis remain loyal to a single Matreach master to ensure peace throughout Matreach.

Next is a rockhopper: Rockhoppers are indigenous to Matreach and live symbiotically with the people of this land. With feathers and fur in green and gray tones, these creatures could easily camouflage within the natural landscape. Many rockhoppers are happy to regularly run and glide for human riders in exchange for food and comfortable shelter.

And finally I have brought a Nostaw (short o in first syllable, aw pronounced like “ow”, I hurt myself in second syllable)

Nostaw Warriors make their home in Cambria. They are an isolated race by choice, living by a code of honor that rules every aspect of their life. Males and females are treated the same, without distinction. Their fierceness on the battlefield is legendary. Though they prefer to live in peace they are not hesitant to kill if they or their way of life is threatened. The people of Skye only know of Nostaw from the stories passed on by storytellers and elders.

Wow. Those are impressive creatures and fabulous illustrations. 

I came up with the name Nostaw because it is Watson spelled backwards. Watson was our little Shih Tzu dog named Watson. Though small he always thought he was a badass dog and would get up in the face of dogs five times his size. He has since crossed over the rainbow bridge so when I needed a fierce warrior, I decided to fulfil Watsons dreams and make him a badass Warrior, so Watson became Nostaw. Here is a picture of Watson:

Oh yes! I can see exactly where your Nostaw warrior came from.

Thanks so much for chatting with me about Ignatius and the Swords of Nostaw David. I’m thrilled for you that out of such difficult times you have managed to produce something so creative. Let me give Linda’s Book Bag readers a few more details about the book:

Ignatius and the Swords of Nostaw

The towering stone Castle Maol, the unrivaled seat of power in the Kingdom of Skye, sat inland almost bereft of life.
Once known for its inspirational beauty, Skye’s forests and meadows were more barren than green now, enveloped by stillness instead of bustling wildlife. Lakes and waterways once teeming with marine life lay stagnant. Most of those who lived here survived under gray clouds of despair.
Several of the eldest knew of the prophecy that would return the land to its prior golden age and quietly hoped it was true.
Only a handful knew the secret that would allow the prophecy to come true. They refused to speak of it.

Fifteen-year-old Iggy is good at three things: languages, witty retorts, and running from a fight. When a guy pulls a knife on him during a high school argument, all the banter in the world isn’t enough to save him, so Iggy resorts to his backup plan—running. But before he can make his escape, the locket he always wears around his neck heats up, and someone tackles him from behind, pinning him to the ground.

Iggy’s never thought of himself as a fighter. He’s spent his life running from anything that can’t be solved with a quick one-liner or a snarky comeback. But as he learns more about the strange place he’s landed, one thing becomes abundantly clear: in the World on Skye, they need a hero. And Iggy just might be the one they’re looking for, even if he’s not so sure.

Ignatius and the Swords of Nostaw is available for purchase here.

About D. A. Mucci

Being an Emergency Room physician for close to forty years, Dr. Mucci found that the pandemic brought forth new horrors in the ER. Writing this fantasy story about Ignatius became an enjoyable escape for him from all that was happening in the real world.

You can find more about D.A. Mucci and Ignatius and The Swords of Nostaw at www.damucci.com or by following David on Instagram and Facebook.

At last! I can hardly believe that we can finally go ahead with the 2021 Deepings Literary Festival – albeit a year late in 2022. As many of you know, I live in a cluster of Deepings in South Lincolnshire that includes Deeping St Nicholas, Deeping St James, Market Deeping, Deeping Gate and Deeping St Nicholas and whilst we may not be the metropolis of London, we certainly know how to host a literary festival! You’ll find previous Linda’s Book Bag posts about the previous festivals here.

There are details on the Deepings Literary Festival website and all tickets can be bought through Stamford Arts Centre here.

There will be book signings at every event so remember to bring some cash!

Thursday 28th April

As we want to be as inclusive as possible, the festival starts with a free event – Read Dating – in the Deepings Library from 10-12 on Thursday 28th April where you can meet a host of local authors, chat with them about their books and find your next great read.

The festival continues at 4.PM on Thursday afternoon with Clara Barley, author of The Moss House. I’m really excited to be interviewing Clara, not least because she used to be my student! There are only a couple of tickets left for this event so be quick if you want to know all about Gentleman Jack’s Anne Lister!

Limited tickets are available here.

Friday 29th April

We start our Friday programme at 10.00 AM with local girl Christina James who will be talking about Murder in the Fens, before answering audience questions. Tickets available here.

2 PM Friday afternoon welcomes with a very rare real life festival appearance from John Marrs whose book The One has been a Netflix sensation. If you like your thrillers dark and twisty don’t miss this event. I’ve been busy thinking up fiendish questions to ask but we’d love your questions too! Tickets available here.

In complete contrast to John we move on to Songs of Praise favourite Pam Rhodes who will be leading us in a sing-along with her presentation in the Priory Chursh at 4.30 PM. I’ll be dashing across from John’s book signings to join in the fun. Tickets available here.

From the Priory Church it’ll be another mad dash for me to head to Molecey Mill for our Deepings Meets Barnsley evening at 7.30 featuring Deepings Literary Festival favourite Milly Johnson with Jack Land Noble. Tickets available here.

Saturday 30th April

We’re thrilled to be able to offer a Deepings Literary Festival BOGOF at to start our Saturday offer as Jane E. James and Lynda Stacey converse with one another about their creepy, crime filled writing. Tickets are available here.

As Jane and Lynda finish their event, at 11.00 AM I’ll be back at Molecey Mill interviewing Kit de Waal whose debut My Name is Leon is currently being made into a BBC series. Tickets are available here.

My next event will be at 2 PM with Deepings Library borrowers favourite William Shaw whose Alex Cupidi series has been shortlisted for numerous events. I love William’s approach to readers and am thrilled to get the chance to ask him questions. Have yours ready too! Tickets are available here.

If controversy rather than crime is your preference then you might like to head to find out all about Jackie Weaver’s authority at 2.30 PM! Tickets are available here.

I am delighted that the next event I’m involved with is to interview Louise Candlish all about her thrillers, one of which, Our House, has recently been a hugely successful television series. We’ll be at Molecey Mill at 5.30 PM. Tickets are available here.

We’re then off to the dark side with horror writer Neil Spring at 8 PM. Neil will be telling us all about the real life events that inspire his writing. Tickets, if you’re brave enough, are available here.

Sunday 1st May

We’re heading from Market Deeping to Mumbai with Vaseem Khan at 11 AM on Sunday 1st May. Not only will Vaseem be answering my questions along with those from the audience, but he’s giving a fascinating insight into the world of his writing in an author talk. Tickets are available here.

Our final event is with television personality Francis Pryor in West Deeping at 2.30PM. As you can see – this event is already sold out so if you’re thinking of coming to any of the others grab your tickets quickly!

You’ll find all the events here. We look forward to seeing you and to putting the Deepings on the literary map. Who needs London when we have Lincolnshire?

It’s publication day for Witches by Brenda Lozano, translated from the Spanish by Heather Cleary, and I’m thrilled to have an extract to share with you from this intriguing sounding book. I have recently been enjoying quite a bit of fiction in translation and would like to thank Milly Reid for sending me a copy of Witches.

Published by MacLehose Press today, 14th April 2022, Witches is available for purchase through the links here.

Witches

A remarkable novel by one of the most exciting new voices in Latin America today

This is the story of who Feliciana is, and of who Paloma was.

I had wanted to get to know them, but I realised right away that the people I needed to know better were my sister Leandra and my mother. Myself. I came to understand that you can’t really know another woman until you know yourself…

Weaving together two parallel narratives, Witches tells the story of Feliciana, an indigenous curandera or healer, and Zoe, a journalist: two women who meet through the murder of Feliciana’s cousin Paloma.

In the tiny village of San Felipe in Jalisco province, where traditional ways and traditional beliefs are a present reality, Feliciana tells the story of her life, her community’s acceptance of her as a genuine curandera and the difficult choices faced by her joyful and spirited cousin Paloma who is both a healer and a Muxe – a trans woman.

Growing up in Mexico City, Zoe attempts to find her way in a society straitjacketed by its hostile macho culture. But it is Feliciana’s and Paloma’s stories that draw her own story out of her, taking her on a journey to understanding her place in the world and the power of her voice.

This captivating novel of two Mexicos envisions the writer as a healer and offers a generous and distinctly female way of understanding the complex world we all inhabit.

Translated from the Spanish by Heather Cleary

An Extract from Witches

It was six at night when Guadalupe came to tell me they had killed Paloma. I don’t remember times or dates, I don’t know when I was born because I was born like the mountain was, go ask the mountain when it was born, but I know it was six at night when Guadalupe came to say they killed Paloma as she was getting ready to go out, I saw her there in her room, I saw her body on the floor and the shine for her eyes on her fingers and I saw her hands they were two in the mirror and the shine was on both like she had just put it on her eyes, like she could get up to put some on mine.

Paloma loved many men who didn’t love her back and she loved many men who did, they came one after another to her vigil and her vigil was like a vela. My sister Francisca and I had Paloma from my father’s side, she was the only thing we had from his family, she was the daughter of my father’s brother Gaspar, who also is dead. Paloma was the only one who carried the curandero blood of my father and my grandfather and of my great-grandfather the curandero, she was the one who taught me what I know, she was the one who told me, Feliciana, you’re a curandera because you carry it in your blood. She told me, This is how you do this thing or the other and that’s not how you do that, and she told me, You have the Language, love, she was the one who said, Feliciana, you are the curandera of the Language because yours is the Book. Paloma cured many men who didn’t love her and many men who did, she cured many people and told others their future and told them the future of affections in bloom or of affections that had wilted and turned to hate, and people liked her for that, because she was good at giving advice about love, people laughed with her and they went to her because she was good at giving advice about love.

Death called to Paloma three times. The first time it called to her was when she fell in love with a politician, death laid its egg in her then. It called for her the second time when she loved a loveless man and that time death trilled its song in her ear. The third time death called to her was when she loved a man from the city who had a disease still unborn but soon to be, and death sang to her as clear as the sun that it would come to her at six the night Guadalupe came to me to say they killed her with the shine on her fingers and I saw her in the mirror two times and two times she looked so alive except for the stain of blood spreading under her. A terrible hour, I remember that terrible hour. For me, it was six at night everywhere in the world, six at night today and yesterday and tomorrow, and for all time, and even though each place has its own clock, its own time and its own tongue, for me the only time and tongue and the only words were those ones because Guadalupe had come to say they killed Paloma. It was six at night and shadows fell across the milpa, it was exactly six at night when the Language left me.

****

Doesn’t that sound intriguing?

About Brenda Lozano

Brenda Lozano is a fiction writer, essayist and editor. Born in Mexico City, she studied literature in Mexico and the United States. She has participated in literary residencies in the US, Europe and Latin America, and her work has appeared in several anthologies, including Mexico20 and Bogotá39. She edits the literary journal Make in Chicago and is part of Ugly Duckling Presse in New York. She is the author of two earlier novels, Todo nada (2009), which is currently being adapted for the screen, and Cuaderno Ideal (2015), recently published by Charco Press in an English translation by Annie McDermott as Loop, and a book of short stories, Cómo piensan las piedras (2017). In 2015, she was recognised by Conaculta, the Hay Festival and the British Council as one of the most important authors under forty years of age from Mexico, and in 2017 she was selected by the Hay Festival for Bogotá 39, a list of the most outstanding new authors from Latin America. She currently lives in Mexico City.

You can follow Brenda on Twitter @heraclesmigato.

About Heather Cleary

Heather Cleary is a translator and writer based in New York and Mexico City. Her writing has appeared in numerous publications. In addition to her translation work, Heather has served on the jury of the National Book Award in Translation (2020), the Best Translated Book Award (2016), and the PEN Translation Award (2015), and often speaks about contemporary Latin American literature and/or translation. She holds an MA in Comparative Literature from NYU and a PhD in Latin American and Iberian Cultures from Columbia University, and teaches at Sarah Lawrence College.

You can follow Heather on Twitter @_heathercleary and visit her website for further information. You’ll also find Heather on Instagram.

If I couldn’t go to China as planned in 2020, the least I can do is read books set there! It gives me enormous pleasure today to welcome Michael Steward to Linda’s Book Bag to stay in with me and tell me all about his debut novel that can transport me to China. Here’s what he told me:

Staying in with Michael Steward

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

No problem, thanks for having me. I’m more than happy with a night in these days, my going out days are all but behind me now. In truth, 10.30pm is a late night for me nowadays!

Oh me too. I’ve always been more of a morning person. So, tell me, which of your books have you brought along to share this evening and why have you chosen it?

I’ve brought along my debut thriller novel, Harvest, which is available now from Amazon.

Congratulations on your debut. What can we expect from an evening in with Harvest?

Well, it’s a dark thriller really and probably ended up a lot darker than I intended when I first set out to write it.

Ha! I think writers often find the characters and events take over and they end up with a different book to the one they planned. Tell me more.

My protagonist, private detective Ed Vaughan, takes the case of a missing British teacher in China and it all goes a bit wrong for him and partner, Andy McEwan, while they are over there. So it’s probably right up the street of readers who enjoy private eye/international mystery type books with a few twists and turns. The early reviews have been quite favourable, and people seem to be enjoying it, which is pleasing.

I bet  – and a relief too no doubt! Did you find Harvest difficult to write?

I would say that being a crime reporter has definitely helped me in some aspects of writing the novel. Obviously news writing is a very different skill to novel writing but the discipline of having to get words on the page at the end of each day definitely helped. I can’t phone my editor at 5pm and say I wasn’t feeling inspired to write anything today. I’d probably receive a barrage of angry words down the phone! So, that, and having some knowledge of policing and the criminal justice system has helped along the way for sure.

That’s fascinating. What else have you brought along and why have you brought it?

I’ve brought along a plate of authentic street noodles from Beijing. I spent about six weeks travelling around China in 2013 as part of an extended 10-and-a-half month honeymoon with my wife.

Crikey. That’s some honeymoon. We had a mini-break to Paris almost 40 years ago!

If I’m honest, I found the food took a little bit of getting used to, and wasn’t at all like the Chinese takeaways back home. My wife and I both agreed that some of the best food we had was from the street vendors, who would cook up a storm right in front of you. My character, Ed Vaughan, certainly enjoys his food, and so it’s only right that I bring a slice of Beijing with me tonight.

I’m really envious of that China trip Michael. We were meant to be touring China in 2020, flying into Wuhan to begin three weeks of discovering the country. Funnily enough that didn’t happen!

I loved China, and it was on the honeymoon trip that I first got the idea for Harvest. I was handed a Falun Gong leaflet in Hong Kong after leaving China, and did some research about the group. It was an eye-opener to say the least, and the Shufen Lam organisation in my novel is based on Falun Gong.

Now I’m going to have to investigate Falun Gong a bit further. Tell you what. You cook up a few noodles and I’ll give Linda’s Book Bag readers a few more details about Harvest as I think it’s exactly the kind of book they’ll love. Thanks for staying in with me to chat about it Michael. I think it sounds brilliant.

Harvest

When Laura Clayton, a British teacher working in Beijing, goes missing, former Met detective-turned private investigator Ed Vaughan is hired to search for her.
But within hours of arriving in the Chinese capital to start their investigation, Vaughan and partner Andy McEwan are brutally attacked. The injuries are superficial but the message is clear; stop looking for the girl or else.

But with the help of a confident young translator and a consular officer, the pair begin to unravel clues into Laura’s disappearance.

With their own lives at stake, the case leads the two private eyes to a place darker, and more depraved than they could have ever imagined.

Published on 24th February 2022, Harvest is available for purchase here.

About Michael Steward

Michael Steward is a crime journalist for the East Anglian Daily Times and Ipswich Star in Suffolk, UK. He is married, with two young daughters and lives in Bury St Edmunds, UK. He is keen on football, and having played himself in the non-league for Bury Town, also regularly attends Portman Road to see his beloved Ipswich Town play.

For further information, follow Michael on Twitter @MichaelReporter.

Since I began reviewing for My Weekly I have had the privilege of reading so many brilliant books. Today I’m delighted to share my views on Breakneck Point by T. Orr Munro.

Published by HQ on 14th April 2022, Breakneck Point is available for purchase here.

Breakneck Point

A gripping new crime series for fans of Val McDermid, Jane Casey, Cara Hunter and Mare of Easttown

CSI Ally Dymond’s commitment to justice has cost her a place on the major investigations team. After exposing corruption in the ranks, she’s stuck working petty crimes on the sleepy North Devon coast.

Then the body of nineteen-year-old Janie Warren turns up in the seaside town of Bidecombe, and Ally’s expert skills are suddenly back in demand.

But when the evidence she discovers contradicts the lead detective’s theory, nobody wants to listen to the CSI who landed their colleagues in prison.

Time is running out to catch a killer no one is looking for – no one except Ally. What she doesn’t know is that he’s watching, from her side of the crime scene tape, waiting for the moment to strike.

My Review of Breakneck Point

My full review of Breakneck Point can be found on the My Weekly website here.

However, here I can say that Breakneck Point is a fast paced, exciting, crime thriller from a writer I think will be winning all the awards in future. I thought it was brilliant.

Do visit My Weekly to read my full review here.

About T. Orr Munro

Orr Munro was born in Hampshire to an English mother and a Greek/Armenian father who later moved to Devon. After university she trained as a CSI, then became a secondary school teacher. She changed career at 33 to become a police and crime journalist. She has since returned with her family to live in North Devon, the setting for Breakneck Point. Her time as a CSI provided much of the inspiration for the novel, shining a light on what happens behind the crime scene tape.

You can follow Tina on Twitter @TinaOrrMunro and Instagram.

Having absolutely loved The Story Keeper by Anna Mazzola, reviewed here, I was thrilled when a copy of Anna’s latest book, The Clockwork Girl, arrived. My enormous thanks to Alex Layt for sending me a surprise copy.

Published by Orion on 3rd March 2022, The Clockwork Girl is available for purchase through these links.

The Clockwork Girl

Paris, 1750.

In the midst of an icy winter, as birds fall frozen from the sky, chambermaid Madeleine Chastel arrives at the home of the city’s celebrated clockmaker and his clever, unworldly daughter.

Madeleine is hiding a dark past, and a dangerous purpose: to discover the truth of the clockmaker’s experiments and record his every move, in exchange for her own chance of freedom.

For as children quietly vanish from the Parisian streets, rumours are swirling that the clockmaker’s intricate mechanical creations, bejewelled birds and silver spiders, are more than they seem.

And soon Madeleine fears that she has stumbled upon an even greater conspiracy. One which might reach to the very heart of Versailles…

A intoxicating story of obsession, illusion and the price of freedom.

My Review of The Clockwork Girl

Madeleine has a new position.

The Clockwork Girl is absolute, unadulterated, brilliance. I thought it was fantastic.

Anna Mazzola has an intelligent deftness of touch that transports the reader completely to Paris of the late 1700s. The sights, sounds, aromas, politics, history, people, events and so on combine into an enthralling read that I found stunning. I could not devour The Clockwork Girl quickly enough and yet I didn’t want it to end because it captivated me so completely. There’s an atmosphere of mystery, menace and the strong sensation that there is something rotten at the heart of Paris, that simply ensnares the reader. If I say that, with all the recent horrors in the world, I have struggled to concentrate fully on anything but that The Clockwork Girl held my attention unwaveringly, it might convey what a mesmerising narrative this is.

The Clockwork Girl is an inspired title because, not only is this a story about automata, but Madeleine’s social class and her history mean that she is treated like an automaton. Women, children and the poor are deemed less than human, giving a disturbing historical insight that reverberates today. Themes of corruption – both of the flesh and the mind – at all levels made my blood boil because I was so invested in the narrative. Relationships from the most manipulative to the most caring and supportive give strata of interest alongside an exciting, sublimely plotted and thrilling story so that I think if I were to reread the story time and again I’d discover something new on each occasion. Honestly, I could not have been more impressed by Anna Mazzola’s crafting of historical detail with fictional creation.

Madeleine is a triumph. In a sense The Clockwork Girl is a feminist story as Madeleine survives against the backdrop of male dominance, corruption and manipulation. She’s the perfect balance of strength and vulnerability that makes her credible, engaging and a person whom the reader is desperate to succeed. What works so well in The Clockwork Girl is the illustration that whilst men hold all the power, it is women who are at the heart of events. Amongst those men, Reinhart and Lefevre illustrate the extremes of obsession possible in the human psyche in a compelling manner.

It’s hard to convey just what a triumph The Clockwork Girl is. It’s beautifully written without shying away from the brutal and disturbing. It’s creepy and believable in equal measure. It’s filled with clockwork creations but with humanity at its heart. I absolutely adored The Clockwork Girl. It’s one of my favourite reads of 2022.

About Anna Mazzola

Anna Mazzola is an award-winning and critically acclaimed novelist. Her debut novel, The Unseeing, won an Edgar Award in the US and was nominated for the Historical Writers’ Association’s Debut Crown in the UK. Her second novel, The Story Keeper, was longlisted for the Highland Book Prize.

You can follow Anna on Twitter @Anna_Mazz and visit her website for more information. You’ll also find her on Instagram and Facebook.

It was a real surprise to find Jacobé & Fineta by Joaquim Ruyra, translated by Alan Yates in my book post. My enormous thanks to Fum D’Estampa Press for sending me a copy. I’m delighted to share my review today.

Published by Fum D’Estampa Press on 23rd April 2022 Jacobé & Fineta is available for purchase here.

Jacobé & Fineta

Hauntingly beautiful, stark and deceptively complex, Joaquim Ruyra’s short stories have long been celebrated as some of the most important and iconic pieces of literature in the 20th century Catalan canon.

Of these short stories, Jacobé and Fineta stand out as masterpieces of their genre in terms of their powerful descriptions of the towns and countryside of the Mediterranean coastline and the subjects they cover.

Accompanied by Ruyra expert and critic Julià Guillamon’s introduction, Alan Yates’ sublime translation in this limited edition brings them to a new audience.

My Review of Jacobé & Fineta

Two short stories in translation.

This slim volume is an intense and fascinating read. In fact, there’s a literary cadence that makes the writing more like listening to harmonious music than reading.

In Jacobé and Fineta the writing is intense, poetic and sumptuous, conveying meaning through subtle implications as much as through obvious exposition. I’m not sure I gathered every nuance of meaning, but I found the writing mesmerising. In Jacobé, for example, the story can be taken at face value as the tragic tale of a person suffering a physical and mental breakdown. Equally, however, there’s a sense of allegory, a religious exploration of the way the sins of the fathers are visited on offspring so that the story is multi layered and perplexing even as it is beautifully written and engaging.

Fineta echoes Jacobé’s unworldliness so that reading this pair of stories makes the reader feel as if they have glimpsed a kind of time slip. It’s as if Jacobé and Fineta are a type of literary string theory with unbroken connections affecting characters long after events have taken place and linking them firmly with the past. The stories are thought-provoking as a result.

Joaquim Ruyra’s prose is translated exquisitely by Alan Yates. Images of nature, especially the sea, are beautifully depicted so that the rhythms of the writing appear to emulate the tides themselves. In contrast to nature, the people in these two stories feel discordant and unable to maintain their place in the natural scheme of life whilst simultaneously appearing as if they are completely part of the universe. This makes reading Jacobé and Fineta feel somehow otherworldly.

It’s quite hard to define my response to the two stories in Jacobé and Fineta. The prose is quite beautiful and completely mesmerising.  I think I’d have to say I am in awe of them even if I’m unsure I have grasped their nuances fully. I really recommend that you read them for yourself.

About Joaquim Ruyra

Joaquim Ruyra i Oms was a Catalan short-story writer, poet and translator, considered a key figure in modern Catalan literature and one of the great narrators of the 20th century. Besides his literary work, he was also aware of linguistics and participated in the First International Congress of Catalan Language.

About Alan Yates

Alan Yates, born in Northampton in 1944, studied Modern Languages at the University of Cambridge. From 1968 he taught in the Department of Hispanic Studies at the University of Sheffield where he was promoted in 1990 to a personal Chair in Catalan Studies. Early retirement in 1999 enabled him to cultivate his enthusiasm for literary translation (exclusively Catalan-English), for which he has been awarded various distinctions.