I’ve written a book … now what?
Since I guest posted on David Gaughran’s blog here and here, I’ve been getting mail from other indie authors, asking for some advice regarding getting their own ball rolling, so to speak. A year and a bit ago, I got some excellent advice from indie author, N. Gemini Sasson, which I took, and perhaps I can pay that forward now. I have some overall suggestions, and then some specific tips. Nothing that’s going to work overnight, I’m afraid … but it’s what I’ve done. Publishing in general can be overwhelming. I honestly don’t know that indie publishing is any different from traditional publishing in that regard, it’s just that you, individually, have to take care of so many things yourself. Not that traditional publishers have been wonderful in this respect, but at least there’s the illusion that you are more taken Read more…
Guinevere (in Welsh Gwenhwyfar)
Guinevere was King Arthur’s wife. Everyone knows that. But the role she plays has been embellished and augmented to the point that it’s actually not clear if she ever existed at all (assuming King Arthur existed at all, the exploration of which could fill a library). “In the ancient Welsh Mabinogion (called Culhwch and Olwen), Guinevere is called ‘Gwenhwyfar’ or ‘Gwenhwyvar’. Her name may mean The White Phantom. Guinevere was the daughter of Gogrfan or Gogrvan or Ocvran. She is the wife of King Arthur. The tale also mentions that Guinevere had a sister, named Gwenhwyach. The Mabinogion says that King Arthur had three sons: Gwydre, Llacheu, and Amhar. But there is nothing in the legend to indicate that they were Guinevere’s sons, too. Either King Arthur had another wife or partner, or, more likely, we can probably assume that Read more…
Slavery and Wales
The title says Slavery ‘and’ Wales because the degree to which slavery existed in Wales is difficult to determine. Without a doubt, many Welsh were forced into slavery–evidence points to Welsh captives on the continent of Europe as well as in Anglo-Saxon England. St Patrick himself was Briton/Welsh (born 387 AD) and was captured by the Irish and made a slave. The Celts were well-known slave-keepers, as were the Romans after them. But were the Welsh themselves, after the Romans left? Hard to imagine they weren’t when their neighbors all around were enslaving them. But in all of the 767 pages of John Davies The History of Wales, he doesn’t mention slavery once. However, Ron Wilcox writes in his book Between Romans and Normans: “Living alongside the bondsmen were the slaves who worked as agricultural labourers or artisans. Most were born into slavery but Read more…
Population in Wales
The population estimate for Wales in the early Middle Ages, at the Norman Conquest in 1066, is 150,000. This is squarely in the ‘medieval warming period’ which began around 950 AD, in which Wales experienced a warmer climate than between the 13th and 19th centuries. This site indicates that the population doubled by 1350 to 300,000, but then was cut by 1/3 with the Black Death. It didn’t reach that total again until the 16th century. As of 2008, the population of Wales was roughly 3 million, creeping slowly up from 2.8 million in 1991. Cardiff, the capital, is by far the biggest city, with slightly fewer than 300,000 people. http://www.citypopulation.de/UK-Wales.html. In the Middle Ages, Cardiff’s population was between 1500 and 2000 people–and was one of the few, and certainly one of the largest–towns in Wales. http://www.localhistories.org/Cardiff.html This population is spread over 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…
Ebook Sale! 26 Authors: 30 Books
David Gaughran is advertising an ebook sale of 30 books at 99 cents, including my own, The Last Pendragon! Find links to all the books here: http://davidgaughran.wordpress.com/2012/03/16/st-patricks-day-blowout-30-great-books-by-26-authors-reduced-to-99c –Sarah Woodbury weaves a tale of Myth and Magic in The Last Pendragon … I could not put this book down –Darkiss Reads (darkissreads.com) He is a king, a warrior, the last hope of his people–and the chosen one of the sidhe . . . Set in 7th century Wales, The Last Pendragon is the story of Arthur’s heir, Cadwaladr ap Cadwallon (Cade), and his love, Rhiann, the daughter of the man who killed Cade’s father and usurped his throne. Born to rule, yet without a kingdom, Cade must grasp the reins of his own destiny to become both Christian king and pagan hero. And Rhiann must decide how much she is willing to risk to follow her heart.The Last Pendragon is a 98,000 Read more…
Kingdom of Heaven (movie review)
Since any movie with swords garners my immediate attention, Kingdom of Heaven was on the top of my list to see when it came out a few years ago. Starring Orlando Bloom, Jeremy Irons, David Thewlis, and Liam Neeson, and directed by Ridley Scott, what could go wrong? Confession: I love this movie. That doesn’t mean it deserves five stars, because it doesn’t. Maybe 4 on a good day, but I still love it. I love the character of Balian (played by Bloom), I’ll watch Jeremy Irons in anything, even slumming in Eragon, and all the medieval crusade material makes my mouth water. That said, the history is terrible, and for the purposes of this blog, that’s what I’m going to talk about. First, the good: The Kingdom of Jerusalem did have a King Baldwin who gained the throne as Read more…
Over at Writer Unboxed!
At the end of last month, Anna Elliott asked me to answer some questions about being an indie author, along with N. Gemini Sasson and Jennifer Becton. Here’s a sample: What advice can you give to anyone just starting out on the indie path? Sarah: I would suggest to anyone who has written only one book to write at least one other before you indie publish the first one. The process of writing that second book will tell you a lot about how to make your first book better. My first book will never see the light of day, but Footsteps in Time was my second, and although it took me 4 years to make it right, by writing other books, I was able to go back to it and finally create something of which I’m really proud. For the Read more…
Winds of Time now available!
Winds of Time (A Novella) Winds of Time is a 20,000 word (100 page) novella from the After Cilmeri series. I started this story nearly five years ago, as part of Footsteps in Time. When it came down to it, however, the story didn’t fit with what was happening with David and Anna, and I very reluctantly put it aside. Several months ago, I pulled it out again, and it occurred to me that my readers might very much like to know what happened to Meg when she returned to the Middle Ages–and thus, in honor of St. David’s Day, I am finally able to share the story with you today in ebook form: Meg had thought that taking a commuter flight from Pasco, Washington to Boise, Idaho would be a simple matter. But nothing is simple for Meg when it Read more…
Reactive Nationalism in Wales
I am pretty free with my historical exposition on the discrimination of the Welsh by the English. It’s long documented and I don’t need to go into it again here. However, an article popped up on the Independent that addresses discrimination by Welsh people against English people who live in Wales. Which isn’t good either, even if it’s understandable. David Adamson, senior sociology lecturer at the University of Glamorgan and author of Class, Ideology and the Nation, said: “There are long historical reasons for these feelings . . . One of the phrases that is often used is reactive nationalism.” The article begins: “Among the fruit stands and butchers of the bustling indoor market in Cardiff, a small stall was doing a steady trade in Welsh souvenirs – postcards,T-shirts and fridge magnets in the shape of sheep. Among the most eye-catching were two Read more…
Shifting views of the past
On a history forum I frequent, someone asked a question about why historians’ views of the past have changed over time, particularly in reference to the ‘Dark Ages’. My novels are set in ‘Dark Age’ and medieval Wales, and this is something I’ve been thinking about a lot recently. Dark Age Britain, as one example, was conquered first by the Romans, who delighted in contrasting their ‘civilized’ society with the barbarity of the native tribes. Next, the Saxons moved in, then the Normans who came in 1066. All of these conquering groups spouted continually about the brutish, uncivilized lives the native British people led (the Scots are included in this too). It’s not uncommon to have English media TODAY speak of the Welsh as some sort of less-than-civilized ‘other’ (I blogged about this here). Compare this to a similar situation: Native Read more…
Introducing … The Uninvited Guest!
My second Gareth and Gwen Medieval Mystery is now available! It is the winter of 1143 and all is not well in the court of Owain, King of north Wales. His future in-laws are untrustworthy, the Norman lords on his eastern border are restless, and among his wedding guests lurks a cold-blooded killer. Gareth and Gwen have marriage plans of their own, but their love will have to wait while the pair race to separate truth from lies, friends from foes, and unravel the mystery before King Owain—and his new bride—fall victim to their uninvited guest. The Uninvited Guest is available at Amazon for Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Uninvited-Gareth-Medieval-Mystery-ebook/dp/B007B2G3U6/ref=sr_1_10?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1329685937&sr=1-10 And at Smashwords for Apple/Nook/Sony (and international) readers: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/134421 It is coming soon to the other outlets as well as in paper form at Amazon. It can be purchased now in paperback here: https://www.createspace.com/3803889 Read more…
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