PRESENTING... ELIZABETH ELLEN CARTER
Today I have the amazingly talented Elizabeth Ellen Carter, historic novelist, talking about her latest release WARRIOR'S SURRENDER and other things that make her tick.
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What were the elements that triggered the storyline of WARRIOR’S SURRENDER?
There were a couple of different things. The first was the concept of someone returning to their home feeling like a foreigner in their own lands and another theme which resonated with me was having a heroine whose life had been completely up ended and having been stretched physically and emotionally to almost breaking point but discovering the strength and resources she never knew she had.
What’s your favourite scene in the book?
Just one? I think one of my favourites is the trial by combat scene which is at the climax of the book. We experience the physicality of combat between our hero Sebastian and the villain Drefan, and we feel the emotional connection between our heroine Alfreya and Sebastian
The characters from WARRIOR’S SURRENDER are coming for dinner – what would you cook for them?
It would have to be a full banquet! The denizens of Tyrswick Keep are used to eating well.
I think a poached eel soup for starters, game pie for mains and sambocade cheesecake for dessert, washed down with some delicious apple cider.
Do you have a writing routine or a special place you like to create your novels?
I work full time, so I have to budget my time carefully. If I can get 5000-7000 words down a week when I’m in full writing mode I’m happy. All I need with me is a comfy seat and a cup of tea.
If you were shipwrecked on a deserted island which character would you want with you and why?
Definitely Sebastian, very strong, very capable and with a great sense of humour.
Was there a point where you realised yes, I am a writer!?
It was when I got my first by-line as a journalist but as a novelist, it was seeing the first review.
You’re in a bar and they’ve called your name for karaoke – what song do you sing?
You’ve never heard me sing... If I could sing it would be Walking on Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves
What does your ideal Sunday morning look like?
A leisurely breakfast, then off to church, then a leisurely lunch with friends which may turn into dinner.
Finish this statement: People often underestimate the power of...
Words.
As a writer I enjoy creating universes inhabited by real characters. I write romance because I love happily ever afters. Words have the power to create and to destroy and you don’t have to be a writer to experience it.
Finish this statement: I feel most magical when...
... the scenes just pour themselves out on paper
While the ink on WARRIOR’S SURRENDER is barely dry– do you have another story for us in the pipeline? Please spill the beans!
Goodness yes! A short story anthology has just come out. A Season To Remember with some great south-east Queensland authors including yourself Eva! We join Noelle Clark and Susanne Bellamy to create four lovely original Christmas stories that are free to download.
My third full length novel Moonstone Conspiracy, which is a full sequel to my first Moonstone Obsession is being edited right now and I’m currently writing a short story, also in the Moonstone universe called Moonstone Promise, where one of my favourite supporting characters gets his own happily ever after.
Buy WARRIOR'S SURRENDER here
• Amazon
• Kobo
For more information on Elizabeth Ellen Carter:
Web: www.eecarter.com/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ElizabethEllenCarter
Twitter: www.twitter.com/EECarterAuthor
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/eecarterauthor/
Google+: //plus.google.com/+ElizabethEllenCarter/posts
Blurb:
A shared secret from their past could destroy their future…
Northumbria, 1077. In the years following William the Conqueror’s harrying of the North, Lady Alfreya of Tyrswick returns to her family home after seven years in exile. But instead of returning victorious as her dead father had promised, she returns defeated by Baron Sebastian de la Croix, the Norman who rules her lands.
To save her gravely ill brother’s life, Alfreya offers herself hostage to her enemy. As Alfreya gets to know her new husband, she finds he’s not the monster she feared, and their marriage of convenience soon becomes a bond of passion. But Sebastian is a man with a secret—one that could destroy him.
As a series of brutal murders haunt their nights, the man who betrayed Alfreya’s father returns claiming to be her betrothed. He has learned Sebastian’s secret and will use it to further his own ambition—using Sebastian’s own family—which will destroy Sebastian and mark him a traitor, and plunge an unprepared England into war with the Scots…
Extract:
By the light of the fire she could see the abandoned chair. To see the second chair Frey must peer around the door.
It too was empty.
Frey frowned. Did she doze and Sebastian slipped past her unseen? She took a further step or two into the room and looked.
The bed was…
Before Frey could complete the thought, she was grabbed roughly from behind and held firmly against a man’s broad chest. A large hand covered her mouth and suppressed an involuntary scream.
The man recognised her and relaxed but did not remove his hand.
“You picked the wrong night to slit my throat while I slept, princess.”
Sebastian’s whispered voice filled her ear. He held her still for long moments before speaking.
“Are you recovered? You will not scream?”
Frey nodded and shook her head in answer to each question and she was released, her heart pumping furiously.
“Do you suggest I pick some other night then?” she said, wiping her mouth to rid the sensation of his hand.
Sebastian ignored her barb and poured a small measure of spiced wine into his goblet. He handed it to her and watched as she drank.
“Why do you assume the worst of me?” she asked.
“Habit,” he answered, arms folded across his chest. “Now tell me what you’re doing in my chambers while others sleep.”
“I have to speak to you.”
Sebastian’s eyebrows rose in surprise. It might have been scepticism, but Frey couldn’t be sure.
“And it couldn’t wait until morning?”
All of a sudden Frey’s courage left her and she wondered if her senses had taken leave of her too.
She was an unmarried woman, alone, late at night in the bed chamber of a man whose mere presence made her feel powerful sensations that she struggled to understand. What on earth was she doing?
She shook her head softly.
“This was a mistake.”
As she turned to leave, Sebastian grabbed her wrist.
“It’s a mistake to not finish what you start.”
