Skipton Castle
Skipton Castle is located in North Yorkshire, England. It was built in 1090 by a Norman baron, Robert de Romille. The castle occupies a strong, defensible position on a cliff on the south bank of the Eller Beck. While initially a traditional motte and bailey castle, the fortifications were upgraded to stone to withstand increasing raids by the Scots. The castle was expanded and remodeled through the 17th century and is still a private residence. Most of the castle is no longer truly medieval, but you can still see the 12th century chapel, as well as the original kitchen, great hall, withdrawing rooms, and the lord’s bedchamber. Skipton Castle is the seat of a major battle in Champions of Time.
Map of Rouen for Outcasts in Time
Some of Outcasts in Time takes place in the medieval city of Rouen!
Shades of Time Map (spoilers!)
This is a map that shows the locations in Shades of Time in the After Cilmeri series! Thanks to my geographer husband for making it!
Is Time Travel Possible?
I wrote a post on time travel that is being featured over at Historical Fiction ebooks. ____ We are all time travelers; we travel through time every millisecond of our lives. It’s just that we can only move in one direction—into the future. Theoretically, time travel into the future and into the past are two distinct concepts. Traveling into the future could happen merely by slowing down your own time, rather than popping in and out of the future like in the television show, Primeval. Unfortunately, at the moment, the kind of time travel we want to experience—into the past—isn’t possible. Traveling in the future is only possible if we travel more quickly or more slowly than everyone else, but then we still can’t ‘get back’ to our own time: “If you want to advance through the years a little faster than the Read more…
Children of Time is coming!
Here’s the cover for the print book! I just couldn’t wait to share it. Currently, Children of Time, the fourth book in the After Cilmeri series (fifth, if you include Daughter of Time), is in the editing/copyediting process. I am planning on a November release date. If you want to know the moment it arrives in stores, sign up in the side bar! November 1288. Bereft of a king or rightful heir, England hurtles towards civil war for the second time in a generation. When David, Prince of Wales, and his wife, Lili, travel to London to attend the wedding of William de Bohun and Princess Joan, they have no intention of involving themselves in local politics. But as infighting leads to murder, David and Lili find themselves at the center of a far-reaching conspiracy. Trapped between history and legend, Read more…
Crossroads in Time released! No foolin’ :)
I am so excited to share with everyone my new book, Crossroads in Time, the third book in the After Cilmeri series. Four and a half years in the making, I began it soon after I finished Prince of Time. Life intervened in the writing process, however, and I only returned to it in 2011. And had to delete everything I’d written up until then and start over 🙂 As a side note, I have only realized as I type this that I began this book again just a few weeks after the death of my father at the far too young age of 68. And maybe that’s why Crossroads in Time is a story so close to my heart. It’s meant to be FUN. A fun, romantic read, following the adventures of David and Anna and their family and Read more…
Could Time Travel Happen?
We are all time travelers of course–we travel through time every millisecond of our lives. It’s just we only move in one direction, into the future. Conceptually, time travel into the future and into the past are two distinct concepts. Traveling into the future could happen merely by slowing down your own time, rather than popping in and out of the future like in Primeval. “If you want to advance through the years a little faster than the next person, you’ll need to exploit space-time. Global positioning satellites pull this off every day, accruing an extra third-of-a-billionth of a second daily. Time passes faster in orbit, because satellites are farther away from the mass of the Earth. Down here on the surface, the planet’s mass drags on time and slows it down in small measures. We call this effect gravitational time dilation. According to Read more…
If you were David, a time-traveling Prince of Wales . . .
My After Cilmeri series follows a family (two teenagers and a mom) who travel in time back to the Middle Ages. One passage in Prince of Time prompted me think about all those products we buy here. How many–were we to take them back with us to the Middle Ages–would truly prove useful? Like David in the book, imagine walking into a pharmacy with a backpack and trying to decide with which items to fill it, if that was all you could take back in time. David focuses primarily on medicines like antibiotics, antibiotic cream, and antihistimines. Somewhere I read that we’ve lost more knowledge in the last 2000 years than we’ve gained, and while I don’t think that’s necessarily true, medieval people did have pharmaceuticals. Many herbal remedies can be very effective. Some of what they used even resemble what we have today. Read more…
Footsteps in Time Review (from Smashwords)
This was pretty cool, so I felt the need to repost it . . . so thank you Wil! I’m glad you liked the book! ________ Review by: Wilson James on Feb. 14, 2011 : Honor. That’s a word not often used today, in 2011. Honor, however, was one of the only things that American teenagers David and Anna took with them in their time travel to medieval Wales. Honor also describes the way in which Prince Llywelyn ap Gruffydd lived his life as the ruler of Wales in 1282. The best way to describe FOOTSTEPS IN TIME? An amazing tale of adventure, daring exploits, loyalty, and courage all wrapped up in a time travel young adult fiction story. This book was enjoyable from beginning to end, as it has plenty of action mixed with a truly remarkable degree of Read more…
New Books Available!
I’ve been working on the After Cilmeri series, a young adult, time-travel fantasy, for the past five years. As should be obvious by now, the fate of Wales after the death of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd has been a near-constant occupation of mine, and these novels are a fun way to imagine a different fate for him. A prequel is in the works . . . Enjoy! _____________ Footsteps in Time In December of 1282, English soldiers ambushed and murdered Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, the Prince of Wales. His death marked the end of Wales as an independent nation and the beginning of over seven hundred years of English oppression. Footsteps in Time is the story of what might have happened had Llywelyn lived. And what happens to the two American teenagers who save him. Footsteps in Time is available (for free) at: http://www.feedbooks.com/userbook/18316/footsteps-in-time Or Read more…
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