Tag Archives: books

book reviews, Give Away, novel, offers, Romans

Looking for reviewers

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Vengeancecover
Is anyone willing to do a review of Vengeance of a Slave in return for a free copy of the book? Please let me know if you would do this. I can send you a file in any format you wish.
There will be no obligation to review the book, but if you do, please say in your review it was a free copy. Amazon gets a bit sniffy sometimes.
Let me know if you would do this and what format you would like by emailing me at vivienne.sang@gmail.com
If you are unsure about what to write in a review, I did a post about it on Nove 20th Follow this link here.
Thanks.
Here’s a bit about it.
Adelbhert is only six years old when he is forced to watch his father and other men from his village being crucified in revenge for an attack on the Roman city of Modiglianum.
Then he and his little sister are taken as slaves. They are sold to a merchant who takes them to the distant and mysterious island of Britannia. Here he is treated like a pet until he grows up and is no longer a pretty child.
His experiences make him hate the Romans and he resolves to escape one day and have revenge. but his hatred is eating away at his soul.
Will he get the chance to escape, and if so, can he remain free? And how can one ;young man take on the might of the Roman Army and win?
novel, Romans

Vengeance of a Slave pays a visit to York.

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Vengeance of a Slave is set partly in the city of York. Here it takes a visit to that city.

In Roman times, York was known as Eberacum, but this picture is in modern York, since my time machine is out of order at the moment!

Here you can see the walls of the city with the Minster in the background.

 

You can buy a copy of the book in both paperback or ebook by clicking on this link.bookinyork

announcement, christmas, fantasy, history, novel, stories

2 offers

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There are 2 offers today.

Vengeancecover

  1. Vengeance of a Slave, a novel set in Roman Britain, is on offer until Dec 26th. Save £1 and get it for only £1.99 (US $1.99). It tells of how a young man tries to take revenge on the Romans for capturing him and removing him from his family. Click on the cover to buy.
  2. The-Stones-Of-Earth-And-Air-Promo-Hardback-Ereader The Stones of Earth and Air, Book 1 of Elemental Worlds, will be free from 15th (Saturday) until 20th (Thursday). This tells of how Pettic has to enter 4 worlds, each associated with one of the ancient elements, in order to find and rescue his friend, the Crown Prince of Ponderia. In this book, he enters the worlds of Terra and Aeris.

Don’t miss the opportunity to get your copies free.

If you are getting someone a Kindle or other tablet for Christmas, and they like historical novels or fantasy, then you could give it them with one (or both) of these books already on it.

Will you please vote for the cover of Vengeance of a Slave in a cover competition. You can vote this week and I think next, too.

So many of the covers in the competition seem very samey. They all have people on them, often sexy people. Seems to me that’s the ‘in’  thing at the moment. Very little originality.  Anyway, please vote, and thanks for when you have.

Here’s the link.

November/December 2018 #AltRead Alternative Book Cover Award Nominees! Have you voted yet? #BookCover

novel

How to write a book review for Amazon.

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First of all, may I make 2 apologies.

First, the link for the free copy of The Wolf Pack did not work. It is now working. Don’t forget the offer finishes on 22nd, so don’t miss out. You can get it by clicking here.

Second, might I apologise for posting late this week.I was away last week and did not have the chance to write a post. anyway, here it is now.

Book reviews are important to authors. Once upon a time, before Amazon and the Internet, (Yes, there was such a time!) the only way authors got their books known about was, in the first instance, by professional reviews in the press, and by word of mouth. People told their friends they’d just read this great book, and their friends should buy it and read it, too.

Then came Amazon. Amazon allows readers to comment on the books they read, and all the world has the ability to see those reviews. (Well, almost. I had a review in India that can’t be seen here in the UK, and I have to post reviews separately in the UK and USA.)

Readers read those reviews and they help them to decide if they want to read a book. that’s great. Unfortunately, those people who write reviews are few and far between. Amazon also only adds books to the ‘People who bought this also bought,’ at the bottom of the page, if a book has 25 reviews.

I think the problem is that pwoplw think writing a book review is arduous. They remember having to write them at school and think it’s the same.

Well, it isn’t.

Writing a book review can be simple and a matter of minutes. I want to help people to get to grips with it so we, as authors, can get more reviews. It’s the main way our books our found. No one can read a book, no matter how good, if they don’t know it’s there.

Here are a few tips to get you started.

  • First,go to the book’s page and click ‘write a review’ (or ‘be the first to review this book)
  • Add the number of stars you want to award.
  • You need a title. Simply something like ‘An excellent read’, or ‘A dreadful book’. Something simple that sums up what you think.
  • In the main body of the review, you do not need to be complicated. Here are a few questions you might consider when reviewing
  • Did I like the book?
  • Was it well-written?
  • Were the characters believable?
  • Did I care about them?
  • Was the plot believable?
  • How easy did I find it to read?
  • Did I become engrossed in the book?

You do not need to answer all of the questions, just three of four would be enough, I think.

I hope this encourages you to write reviews on the books you read, positive and negative.

Thank you for reading this.

Leave a comment in the comments box, or feel free to share this post with your friends and followers. I love hearing from you, and what you think.

 

 

Marketing

How to make use of locations in your marketing

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Here is a fantastic way to add interest to your marketing campaign.

via How to make use of locations in your marketing

fantasy, novel, stories

An Update on my Writing

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I’m going to give you an update of my writing today.

I have been working on the next historical novel. I’ve completed the first draft, and it is currently undergoing some critiquing from a wonderful site I’ve found called Scribophile. I was hoping to get it out before Christmas, but it might be a bit longer than that.

It is called Jealousy of a Viking and is the story of a descendant of Adelbehrt from Vengeance of a Slave. She, Helgha, is a young Viking girl who falls in love with Erik, the son of a jarl from Jorvik, modern York.

Of course, true love does not run smoothly (no story if it does). They cannot marry because of the difference in their status. She becomes his mistress, but trouble starts when he marries to improve his family’s standing.

Her rival for Erik’s love has the advantage she is his legal wife and a feud begins between them. Which woman will win? Can Helgha find a way to be with Erik after all? Will her knowledge of herbs help her?

I’ve also been working on the next book in The Wolves of Vimar series. I lost a whole chunk of it somehow, and became a bit disheartened, then I found it. At least I thought I had, but a chunk from the middle is still missing and needs rewriting. Hey ho! That’s life. I suppose.

This book has no title as yet. In it, the group known as Wolf travel to Bluehaven and hence Holy Isle for the wedding of one of their number, Randa, to Prince Almoro, brother to the king. Then revolts occur in several cities, and Erian, the land bordering them, marches in and takes over several dukedoms, capturing the Duke of Senndolina.

Several of Wolf travel to try to rescue him, and Rollo, Duke of Hambara, sets off for Erian to try to talk peace with The Master.

That’s the next one to try to finish.

announcement, fantasy, Give Away, novel

Free Book

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theneverdyingmanFrom today, October 18th, The Never-Dying Man, Book 2 of The Wolves of Vimar Series, is FREE on Amazon.

It is only available for 5 days, until 22nd October, so hurry and get your copy.

Here is a bit about it.

After finding Sauvern’s Sword, the companions set off to help a friend rescue his child from kidnappers. Instead, they stray into Erian and find preparations for war. They are drafted into the Erian army but are recognized by an old enemy, who arrests some of them and takes them to Frelli, the capital of Erian, where they are put in jail.

The Master of Erian frees them and offers them work. Meanwhile, Carthinal has to face some unpleasant truths about himself. Is his desire to further his magical career more important than his friends and country? After they discover terrible truths about the Master and his magical research, they will need to escape in order to tell the leaders of Grosmer about the plans for war.

Why not get a copy of Books 1 and 2 as well? Click on the links to buy.

The Wolf Pack. Book 1

The Never-Dying Man. Book 2

Wolf Moon. Book 3

 

fantasy, interview

An Interview with Basalt Strongarm from The Wolf Pack

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After much persuasion, I managed to get an interview with Basalt, the dwarf friend of Carthinal.

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Me: Good morning, Basalt. Thank you for giving me your time.

Basalt: Hmm! I’m very busy. I hope you don’t intend to be too long.

Me. No, this shouldn’t take more than a few minutes. Just trying to find a bit about you.

Basalt: Well, what do you want to know?

Me: You’ve lived in Grosmer for a long time, but you weren’t born here, were you?

Basalt: No, I was born in the Dwarven homeland of Graal. It’s at the southern end of the Western Mountains, you know. As far away from those flighty elves as we can get.

Me: But one of your friends is an elf, and another a half elf. Surely you can’t think all of them are flighty/

Basalt: Did I say I thought of them all as flighty? Of course not. Asphodel and Carthinal are just normal folks. So is Yssa. But they will give their children such unpronounceable names.

Me, smiling: So you are not against all elves, then?

Basalt: It’s not me you should be worrying about, but the other dwarves who still think like that. I’m willing to accept that elves, like dwarves and people, have all kinds of folk.

Me: Tell me about your early life,

Basalt: I was my parents’ second child. My brother, Schist, is much older than I am. My parents, Granite and Emerald, had given up hope of another child, then I came along. I guess they spoiled me because of it.

Me: How did Schist react to your birth.

Basalt: He was very good to me. He played with me, looked after me when my parents were down the mine and we got on very well.

Me: Why did you leave Graal then?

Basalt: Everything was fine until my parents were killed in a mine collapse. Then Schist took over the running of the mine. (It belonged to my parents, see). We were supposed to be joint owners, but then she came along.

Me: She?

Basalt: Opal. She set her sights at him when she realised he would be part owner of the mine and rich. They got married, and gradually she poisoned him against me. They gave me all the worst and most dangerous jobs.

Me: But if Schist was so fond of you, how could she manage to turn him.

Basalt: Well, when our parents died, I was still only a little whippersnapper. I’d only just started my apprenticeship. Opal argued that as I was not a qualified miner, and had not worked to build up the mine as had Schist, then it was unfair that I should have equal shares with him. Somehow she managed to convince him. I think she hoped that by giving me dangerous jobs she hoped I’d be killed. So I left.

Me: And made your way to Grosmer where, I believe, you learned the trade of metalworking.

Basalt nodded: And I’ve never regretted it. I love working with metal–making beautiful things as well as useful ones. I also taught myself to carve wood, I make toys for my friends’ children, and I made an amulet for each member of The Wolf Pack, indicating their character as well as showing they are members.

Me: Well, I’ll let you get back to your work. Thank you for agreeing to this interview.

Basalt: Well, I’ll be off. Work to finish. Goodbye.

fantasy, novel

An update on my work.

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A brief post today.

I’ve had a problem with Book 4 of The Wolves of Vimar. I started to write it, then moved away from it to try to finish the 2nd book in my historical novel series, The History of a Family Through the Ages.

I decided to continue with it, but I’d lost much of it. Where? No idea. I started to rewrite it from where It ended, then I found, in my downloads (how did it get there?) a copy. Hooray, I thought. Found it. But when I read it through, a chunk in the middle was missing, and a chapter at the end of where I’d reached.

Now how can anyone explain that?

Update on the next historical novel. It’s finished, but undergoing rewrites and critiqueing. It’s potentially the best yet.

Feel free to make a comment. I enjoy hearing from you.

historical recipes, Recipe book, recipes

A recipe from 1909

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I inherited a small book of hand-written recipes from my Grandmother. The back of the book had some of her household accounts and they were dated, so I know the date of the recipes was around 1909.

I found it interesting to peruse these old recipes and compare them with the food we eat now. There was so much more fat then, and it was mainly animal fat.

I thought you might be interested in looking at some of our history, as far as food is concerned, and so here is one of the puddings from Grandma’s Little Book.

Of course, the weights and measures were in imperial measures, so I changed them for a more modern audience. If you live in the USA, I’ve put Grandma’s measures in brackets.

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This is not a picture of the Amber Pudding, but the nearest I could find as to what I think it is. It will not have the sauce.

 

Amber Pudding

Ingredients

Just over 100g (8oz)  breadcrumbs

100g (8oz) beef suet

60g (2oz)moist brown sugar

2 eggs

3 dessertspoons marmalade

Method

Mix all ingredients well together.

Put into a buttered basin.

Steam for 2 hours.

If you find these old recipes interesting, you can find out more in Viv’s Family Recipes.  See the book on My Books page. Click on the link here and it will take you directly to the book’s page on Amazon.