Lynn Carthage's Blog

I answered some fun interview questions over here at Adventures in Y.A. Publishing, including what advice I’d pass on to other writers, what I’m working on now, and what I hope readers take away from my books.

If you’re looking for a giveaway… we’ve got one! You can win a copy of Avenged here; move quickly – the giveaway ends soon!

It’s incredible that this day is here. It seems like almost yesterday I was celebrating signing the contract for the trilogy… and now the trilogy is drawing to a close. I’m proud of this series, excited for it to find a new readership, really pleased that I stretched as a writer and wrote a narrative that plays out over three books, with three different narrators.

Avenged is Eleanor Darrow’s book; she’s a maid from Madame Arnaud’s household. I have a special fondness for servant tales and love the underdog turned powerhouse. She’s a powermaid!

You may ask, if you didn’t read Haunted and Betrayed, is it possible to jump into the series with Avenged? Yes. For sure. But I believe the experience will be richer if you start with Book One (Haunted) or even Two (Betrayed). There are plans in place to make it easier for you to read the previous two novels; I’ll post more about that on March 1.

Check my events tab for several northern California bookstore events I’ll be participating in. As always, I welcome shares and reviews and follows (I’m on Twitter @LynnCarthage).

Author copies arrived a few days ago from Kensington, and the blue bears were very interested!

Thanks for clicking through, and I wish you happy reading!

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I wanted to share this wonderful interview with blogger Jorie of Jorie Loves a Story (great rhyming title, eh?). What I love about this format is that it isn’t just straight question and answer; Jorie includes a little rejoinder to each of my responses before moving on. It makes for a really nice, intimate interview. I’m so grateful that Jorie took the time to come up with such specific questions. I hope you’ll enjoy reading it; I’m linking to it here.

I also want to talk about Friday’s event. I’ll be appearing with other Y.A. authors at the California Library Association “Swing into Action” conference. It should be a neat interaction with librarians, readers and other authors. I’ll be at a signing table between noon and 1:30 on Nov. 4. The full schedule of authors is here.

Finally, the ebooks for Haunted and Betrayed are on a limited sale for $1.99! I’m not sure when the sale ends but I suspect today may be the last day (Oct. 31)–so go grab it if you’re interested.

Kindle link for Haunted: http://amzn.to/2fxTqkr

Nook link for Haunted: http://bit.ly/2dW86ts

Kindle link for Betrayed: http://amzn.to/2faJr0g

Nook link for Betrayed: http://bit.ly/2f6nGA2

. . .

I’m so excited to join with two other authors for a Windswept Hair Giveaway. We all shared the same girl on our book jacket, so we found each other and joined forces.

Whether the wind blows east or west through your hair, you’ll find a great story. Haunted by Lynn Carthage is about an American girl who moves to the ancestral home in England to learn more about her family’s secrets; Forest of Whispers by Jennifer Murgia is about a teen who hears whispers of vengeance from her death mother, killed for being a witch; and Call of the Vampire by Gayla Twist is about a girl and her friend who break into the castle of a famous vampire family and find they may not be able to leave.

The winner will get all three books sent their way for a wonderfully creepy October read. Please share the giveaway widely; for instance, you receive more entries in the raffle each time you tweet about it.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

So…I have to be there! Can’t not go when it’s a blowout.

I’ll be participating in the

California Library Association & Bay Area Young Adult Librarians’ YA Author Blowout (meet & greet and book signing) during the CLA Conference in Sacramento on Friday, November 4th from 12 to 1:30 p.m. This event will take place in the main exhibit hall.

Hope to see you there? Hair all awesome and blown out?

photo courtesy of Vogue magazine

Windblown look: needs hairdryer and product

I saw this photograph of a French chateau in the Wall Street Journal Magazine and taped it above my desk for inspiration while I was working on Betrayed. I think it’s important to have visual cues to provide atmosphere. I also culled images from my many books about Versailles.

This particular image is the main entrance to a chateau in the French city of Pouy-sur-Vannes. The photo’s caption states that it’s believed to have been built by the Templars back in the year 1145. I love the garret window (ideal writing studio!) and the light gleaming from a basement room which appears as if it could almost be underwater during a heavy rain. This home surely has many, many stories to tell. If you don’t know about the Templars, google it. Fascinating stuff.

Do you ever tear out pictures to savor them?

*Unfortunately, because I tore the image from the magazine, I don’t have the photographer’s name to credit him or her.

Those of you who are reading Betrayed, I have a lot of wonderful travel photographs to share with you in the upcoming weeks. Mention of the Marlborough Tower begins on page 37.

Here I am, years ago, with the tower in the background behind me, stairs winding enticely up. I certainly wish I’d combed my hair for this shot, but windblown tourists just don’t care.

The neat thing about the tower is that it was built to look instantly old. Marie Antoinette loved the idea of rustic farm buildings, her own version of Disneyland. It was originally called the Fishery Tower and is intended to look like a lighthouse.

Also in the picture you can see a bit of the pond, which has some true significance for those of who have read the book…

Margaret Evans Porter communing with the yews

The yew tree appears in my Arnaud Legacy series with great import, so when I recently saw something on Facebook from fellow author Margaret Evans Porter about yew trees, I asked her if she’d be willing to guest post here. She very graciously said yes, and included a plethora of gorgeous photographs.

This is going to be a pleasure…pour a cup of tea and enjoy learning more about these trees with a fascinating history! Thank you so much for posting today, Margaret!

Designing a garden is an expression of my creativity that involves my love of history, beauty, fragrance, and personal connections. I grow from cuttings given to me by my rose-growing mother, and I’ve got the offspring of boxwood and yew from many generations beyond me. I grow roses that my characters know and grow (especially my late 18th century garden designer heroine.) Many of these varieties are centuries old, and I value their history as much as their hardiness and reliability.

Rosa Mundi has been known since the 16th century

In addition to roses (about 90 plants at last count), I grow culinary and medicinal herbs, and many old-fashioned perennials like foxglove, delphinium, yarrow, and cranesbill. Quite a few of my most treasured plants are ones that I successfully moved to my previous home to my current one. When in England or other countries, a favourite activity is visiting historic gardens.

I’m quite familiar with the lore associated with yews, partly from general study of English, Scots, Irish, Welsh, and Manx folklore but specifically because of family lore and in connection with book research. In the Celtic tradition, yew is sacred. Because I often write about those cultures and have Celtic heritage, I can’t remember when I didn’t know about the various properties of the yew tree!

Yew in a Buckinghamshire graveyard

It is regarded as one of the most long-lived trees, and some are believed to have existed for a thousand years or more. Its supposed connection to eternal life explains its attractiveness as a Christian symbol, and why the yew is so often found in graveyards and growing beside churches. But even in ancient times it had associations with life and death.

The leaves and barks are poisonous if eaten. Yet in modern times, its health benefits have been recognised. Taxol and similar drugs used in treating certain cancers, are derived from yew. Though it is made synthetically, yew leaves continue to be a component in its manufacture.

Old yew tree in an ancestral churchyard in Gloucestershire

I visit many ancestral churchyards where yew trees have grown for centuries, and have a habit of taking cuttings from these venerable trees which might have been known to my forbears. They develop into miniature trees, which I keep as houseplants.

A piece of a large tree is now a tiny tree

Last year I added this yew shrub to my garden, it’s so nice having evergreens—especially in wintertime. I haven’t decided whether to keep it neatly trimmed or let it grow as it pleases.

The yew in my garden

As mentioned earlier, because I so often visit historic gardens in Britain, I’m accustomed to seeing clipped yew tree topiaries and hedges as landscape features. Some of my favourite yews are the ones at Hampton Court Palace, planted there by 18th century garden designer Capability Brown. Nowadays they have a sort of umbrella or toadstool shape. Also at Hampton Court is the famous maze—I’ve been getting confused there ever since I was a teenager, but I do love it. When it was laid out around 1700, it was planted with hornbeam, but at a later date it was re-planted with yew.

The yews at Hampton Court

One of my favourite possessions is a pen made of yew wood, which my mother purchased for me in the Costwolds many years ago. It’s always on my desk, I use it every day.

My yew wood pen

Yew trees definitely turn up within my novels. The heroine of The Proposal, the lady landscape designer and rosarian, appreciates the formal gardening styles and in reviving a neglected garden hopes to restore shaved hedges and topiaries. When the heroine of The Seducer begins to learn archery, her husband commissions for her a bow made of yew wood.

My gardening life and my writing life are so closely entwined. In writing A Pledge of Better Times, I depicted the development of Hampton Court’s formal gardens by Queen Mary II, and explore the symbolism of oranges—my real-life heroine, featured on the novel’s cover, is holding one. Was there a particular reason for it?

My thanks to Lynn for inviting me to share my appreciation of special plants and gardens, topics very important to me in so many ways!

Many thanks to you, Margaret. I’m in awe of your gardening and your wonderful array of novels. It’s a great honor to have you here today.

MARGARET PORTER is the author of A Pledge of Better Times and eleven more British-set historical novels for various publishers, including bestsellers, award-winners, and foreign language editions. She studied British history in the U.K. and afterwards worked in theatre, film and television. Margaret returns annually to Great Britain to research her books. She and her husband live in New England with their two dogs, dividing their time between a book-filled house in a small city and a waterfront cottage located on one of the region’s largest lakes. She tweets as @MargaretAuthor. More information is available at her website, www.margaretporter.com.

And because we can’t resist: a few more photographs of her incredible roses:

I’ve always grown this highly scented damask rose, used by the perfume trade

Climbing roses

All photographs and captions are used courtesy of Margaret Evans Porter. Thank yew!

. . . .

It didn’t occur to me until I had tiled all three book covers next to each other: the Phoebe figure grows.

And her gaze shifts: left, right and finally: center. Right at you.

It was a fun night at Barnes & Noble Natomas for their inaugural B-Fest, a young adult festival that took place in Barnes & Nobles across the nation. I was so happy to be invited to participate and give a major shout-out to Lisa Savage at the store for leading us in fun trivia! The questions were indeed very hard, and I was impressed with the level of commitment and fortitude shown by all contestants.

My serious mid-sentence face

I had brought mustaches…

Trivia players. The woman on the right who looks suspiciously Phoebe-esque won!

…and sat down to sign books. I do something special with these, so swing by the Natomas or Citrus Heights store to get one.

I signed stock. You can get a signed copy with a guillotined head replete with pool of blood…it’s just one of the many services I offer my readers.

A few friends came by, too, including an old-time Kansas friend who stayed through the whole event (kisses!) and my historical fiction writer friend Marcia.

It was fun, and then we stepped across the parking lot for incredible nachos. Thanks, B&N, for a great night!