THE GHOSTLY FATHER by Sue Barnard

The Ghostly Father

Blurb:

Romeo & Juliet – was this what really happened?

When Juliet Roberts is asked to make sense of an ancient Italian manuscript, she little suspects that she will find herself propelled into the midst of one of the greatest love stories of all time. But this is only the beginning. As more hidden secrets come to light, Juliet discovers that the tragic tale of her famous namesake might have had a very different outcome…

A favourite classic story with a major new twist.

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I managed to get Sue to sit down long enough to answer a few questions…

You say your background is stranger than fiction (I’ve got some crackers in my family history, too), could you share a snippet from your family history? You don’t need to mention names.

Suffice it to say that for almost forty years, I was a skeleton in someone else’s cupboard – a secret baby who had to be given up for adoption because of the unforgiving attitudes of the time.  How I came to be reunited with my birth family is a long and very complicated story, but when it happened, it felt like a homecoming.  And the day I met my mother would have been a very good day to have owned shares in Kleenex!

What prompted you to write this book?

It was in response to the prompt “Write the book you want to read.”  I’ve always loved the story of Romeo & Juliet but hated the ending, and I’ve often wished that there was an alternative version of the story which had a better outcome.

What’s the best thing about being labelled as “professionally weird”?

The label “professionally weird” originated when I first became involved with writing questions for BBC Radio 4’s fiendishly difficult Round Britain Quiz – something which requires a particularly warped type of mind.  The best thing about the label is that it gives me something to live up to!

Thanks so much, Sue, for stopping by Celtic Connexions and sharing your book and your story.

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About the author:

Sue Barnard was born in North Wales but has spent most of her life in and around Manchester. After graduating from Durham University, where she studied French and Italian, Sue got married then had a variety of office jobs before becoming a full-time parent. If she had her way, the phrase “non-working mother” would be banned from the English language.

Since then she has had a series of part-time jobs, including some work as a freelance copywriter. In parallel with this she took several courses in Creative Writing. Her writing achievements include winning the Writing Magazine New Subscribers Poetry Competition for 2013. She is also very interested in Family History. Her own background is stranger than fiction; she’d write a book about it if she thought anybody would believe her.

Sue has a mind which is sufficiently warped as to be capable of compiling questions for BBC Radio 4’s fiendishly difficult Round Britain Quiz. This once caused one of her sons to describe her as “professionally weird.” The label has stuck.

Sue joined the editorial team Crooked Cat Publishing in 2013. Her first novel, The Ghostly Father (a new take on the traditional story of Romeo & Juliet) was officially released on St Valentine’s Day 2014. Her second novel, a romantic mystery entitled Nice Girls Don’t, is due for release in July 2014.

You can find Sue on Facebook, Twitter (@SusanB2011), or follow her blog here.

There’s a Facebook Event happening today, too. You can join the fun here:

Facebook Events page

You  can purchase The Ghostly Father at:

Amazon UK

Amazon.com

Waterstones

Smashwords

 

BOOKS ON BILLBOARDS

Celtic Connexions is thrilled to have the creator of look4books.co.uk, Gary Walker, here with us today. Not only does Gary support indie authors on this site, but he also creates fabulous billboards with their covers. This is the one he did for my debut novel, A Shadow in the Past. I’m thrilled beyond words.

Books on Billboards

So settle in Gary and make yourself comfortable in our ‘hot seat’. You work in a completely different field. How did you get interested in photo manipulation? How long have you been doing it?

I have been seriously doing this work for around 18 months. The reason for me getting interested in this would be better suited to your second question

What made you decide to do “books on billboards” for Indie authors?

I had written two books which I had published independently. They did fairly well on Amazon Kindle for the first few weeks, but then I noticed a sharp fall off of sales. At this time I had no interest in Social Media, so knew nothing of the marketing possibilities of using images with links to my book selling pages on sites like Twitter and Facebook. By the time I had gained this knowledge I had already decided to remove my book from Amazon. I then made the decision to help other independently published authors by putting their books on my website www.look4books.co.uk and began to design posters for them.

When did you start your website look4books.co.uk?

The website has been going for a number of years, it began life as an antiquarian book selling, and information site. I had been a collector of old books for more years than I care to remember.

Of all the billboards you’ve done so for authors, do you have any particular favourites and will you share them with us? Was it the degree of difficulty, the type of billboard the author wanted, or the way the colours from the background worked with the book cover images?

A lot of questions there. To be perfectly honest the answer would probably be all of the above, and sometimes none of the above. What I’m trying to say is I just know when a poster really works. It also helps when I get feedback from the author themselves, be that positive or negative.

Many thanks Melanie for inviting me to do this interview.

Thanks for coming over today. It’s been great getting the ‘inside scoop’ on your work. Here are a few more examples of Gary’s brilliant book posters.

Books on Billboards

Books on Billboards

Books on Billboards

Books on BillboardsYou can see more of Gary’s photo manipulation genius on his Pinterest board book posters.

SOPHIA’S SECRET by Julie Ryan

Sophia’s Secret – Book 2 in the Greek Island Mysteries

Sophia's Secret

Blurb:

This is the second book in the Greek Island Mystery series. Although each book is intended to be read as a standalone, some of the characters from the first book, Jennas’s Journey, do make an appearance.

Kat has never understood why she was sent at the age of seven from Greece to live in England with her Aunt Tigi. When she receives an email from her grandmother, the first contact in over twenty years, informing her of her mother’s death, she knows this could be her last chance to find out the truth. Little by little she finds out the shocking facts as her grandmother opens her heart. It seems everyone has a secret to tell, not only her grandmother, as Manoli, her school friend, also harbours a guilty secret. Then there’s a twenty year old mystery to solve as well as a murder and what happened to the missing Church treasure?

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I see in your bio you have a strong attachment to Greece. Can you elaborate on it?

I first went to Greece in 1984 to work as a Language Teacher and although it wasn’t love at first sight – I arrived by train in Thessaloniki in the middle of the night – as soon as I saw Athens I felt a tingle and by the time I visited the islands it was a full blown love affair. I stayed for two years in all and have been back to visit on numerous occasions. There’s just something magical about the light and the scenery and climate are fantastic. What more could you ask?

You were born in Barnsley, Yorkshire (I have a character in one of my WsIP who comes from there). What was it like to live in a former mining town? (Since I’m not sure of your age, if you lived there before the mines closed any memories such as the miners’ strike in (I think) 1984?

I have a strong attachment to Barnsley – though for different reasons to my attachment to Greece. The people are down to earth and for me it will always be home. I remember the miner’s strike well and how divisive it was to the community. It was a very dark time and some of the wounds it opened still haven’t healed completely. I have family there and whenever I return, it’s like reliving my childhood and I immediately lapse back into ‘Yorkshire.’

Sophia’s Secret is the your 2nd book in the series. How many do you envision in the complete series? Two? Three? Four? More?

To be honest, I have no idea. The first book in the series, Jenna’s Journey’ began life as a short story. I was amazed that it developed into a novel. I thought that was it but I missed writing about Greece and before long a second book was on the way. There will definitely be a third but after that I’ll wait and see what my characters tell me.

Did you always want to be a writer? When did the bug bite you?

I’ve always loved writing but never really imagined that I would write a novel. I think I just needed some self-confidence. Once I saw that it was a real possibility then the bug took hold and now I don’t think I could stop even if I wanted to.

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GIVEAWAY!

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Sophia's SecretAbout the Author:

Julie was born and brought up in a mining village near Barnsley in South Yorkshire. She graduated with a BA (hons) in French Language and Literature from Hull University. Since then she has lived and worked as a Teacher of English as a Foreign Language in France, Greece, Poland and Thailand. She now lives in rural Gloucestershire with her husband, son and a dippy cat with half a tail. She is so passionate about books that her collection is now threatening to outgrow her house, much to her husband’s annoyance!

She is the author of two novels set in Greece, “Jenna’s Journey” and “Sophia’s Secret” both part of the Greek Island Mystery series. She is currently working on a third book, ‘Pandora’s Prophecy.”

You can follow Julie on

Facebook
Twitter
and on her Blog

You can buy Julie’s Greek Island Mysteries

Jenna’s Journey

Sophia’s Secret

Canada Day 2014

Happy Canada Day!

Canada Day

This year, I spent the day at the Canada Day Morrisburg Market. The heat was oppressive as was the humidity. I think it felt like 41C outside – and that was even under a canopy in the shade. Thankfully, there was a breeze coming in off the river, but that also posed a few problems.

Canada Day
My table. Notice hubby is also wearing A Shadow in the Past T-shirt.

My little table (while it looks very nice decked out in red and tartan looks so small under the 10’x10′ canopy. And because there was so much room in the tent, people took the short cut through the one end to go to and from other parts of the park.

I rearranged the table after this photo was taken and put the easel with the “what people are saying about A Shadow in the Past” in the middle behind the calendars and moved the stacks of A Shadow in the Past to the edge of the table.

I had a few people ask if we had T-shirts for sale but I only ordered the two – one for hubby and one for me to wear to assorted signings (unless more formal attire is required).

Canada Day
Showing of my A Shadow in the Past t-shirt

The militia reenactors scared most of the people (me included) when they started firing their guns… without warning I might add. Still I managed to get a couple of pictures of them.

canada day 2014 3
Militia reenactors
canada day 2014 4
Militia reenactors

Early in the afternoon, the wind changed and my easel became a sail, so it spent most of the afternoon under the table, although I did manage to get it back on display a few times. It meant having to hang on to it and even then there was no guarantee it would remain upright.

By the end of the day, I had sold 4 copies of A Shadow in the Past and 2 copies of The Consequences Collection. In addition, a number of people took my postcards and were quite pleased that both books are available as ebooks. Now we’ll see if that interest translates into sales.

How did you spend your Canada Day?