Editor’s Letter
I hope this newsletter finds you safe and well.
The huge international spike in Covid numbers around Christmas saw a lot of authors having to forgo their book launch plans.
Author’s Pen’s Maggie Weir-Wilson was a case in point.
I will be working towards Maggie’s postponed launch in the next couple of weeks; if you’d be interested in joining us at any of the events then please don’t hesitate to email me at Author’s Pen and let me know.
A Fond Farewell
Sadly, Mathew decided to leave Author’s Pen in early February and I think his sudden decision came as a huge shock to us both.
Mathew has a huge number of pressures on his time, not least juggling family life with the final year of his MA in Creative Writing.
I’m sure you’ll join me in wishing him well with his degree and with Masterplayer when it launches.
Mathew’s departure involved another huge learning curve for me as I took over our website.
But I’ve enjoyed learning new skills and taking baby steps through the website has removed a lot of the fear and trepidation I would once have felt – I’ve discovered that you can teach an old dog new tricks!
In early February, I finalised proof-edits for an American client, Kara Stevens.
Kara features in this month’s Author’s Showcase.
If you’ve got any questions, or ideas for regular features, then please don’t hesitate to email them to me.
Happy writing,
Lesley
Contents:
Author’s Showcase: Kara Stevens
Author’s Showcase: Kara Stevens
Kara has written and now published her first YA (young adult) fantasy novel, The Scarring of the Roshanra (TSotR).
The book is intended to be the first in a series.
Below is an extract from an earlier interview with Kara.
You can read that interview in full on Kara’s Author Page .
What is it about fantasy worlds that inspires you?
Anything is possible in fantasy, and I can create healing powers that exist in my mind that I wish existed outside.
I’ve also lived in a fantasy world my whole life.
When I was scared as a kid, even into my teenage years, I had imaginary friends that I could call on when I heard a noise.
Who are your favourite authors?
My favourites by far are Tolkien, Robert Jordan, and J. K. Rowling.
There’s a reason their works are so famous; the level of care they put into their worlds comes out in their writing.
It’s hard to put their books down, even after reading them many times.
Why did you initially feel it was important to write under a male pseudonym for this series?
My father’s name was Ernest, and he was the most sincere, trustworthy person I had met (until I met my fiancé).
My publishing name is Earnest SB Brown, honouring him, myself (SB=Speedball, a nickname my love gave me because my emotions are intense) and my future last name is Brown.
[EDIT] Since speaking with Lesley and others, I realised, yes, writing about rape trauma issues in a male pen name may come off as … icky and creative instead of realistic.
I have since changed my pen name to Kara SB Brown. Kara still honours my father, since he helped to name me.
How can your readers follow you?
Instagram: @earnestsb
Twitter: @kalaskaggs
Website: https://www.earnestsbbrown.com
Don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter! My first newsletter comes out at the beginning of March!
Writing Prompts
Suffering with writers’ block?
These writing prompts might help get those creative juices flowing once again.
- Was it really possible to let bygones be bygones? …
- Did he think she was being funny …
- As the first daffodils poked their heads above the soil …
Book Reviews
Ghosts, by Dolly Alderton
Sadly this was not a book I felt I would be able to take on a train, plane or into a café.
It is a chuckle-out-loud story of modern life for a thirty plus navigating dating apps for the first time.
Dolly writes about the pressures and stresses of juggling a busy job with trying to find love against a backdrop of self-satisfied newly married friends and the child-men who populate the dating app she’s signed up to.
Alongside this, she’s also balancing caring for her dad as he descends into dementia. And then there’s her mum’s almost desperate desire to reinvent herself as a coping mechanism.
It is very real, very believable.
Humour – combined with touches of realism and excellent character development – mean that it is a book whose main protagonist was one I immediately empathised with.
Cathy Come Home, by Jeremy Sandford
With the prejudices of the late 20th Century being uncovered, debated and brought into the political limelight, Cathy Come Home has absolute relevancy within this arena.
A friend of mine once said, “We are all only five steps from homelessness”. This book essentially proves that phrase.
Jeremy Sandford wrote his play from the transcripts of hundreds of interviews, which is likely the reason that the play appears as a series of vignettes documenting Cathy’s downward spiral.
Cathy leaves her foster home for the bright lights of the big city and meets Reg.
They both have good jobs and the story begins as Cathy hitches a lift in a lorry to begin her new life.
She and Reg quickly decide to marry and have children.
Life is initially good. Reg earns enough to set them up in a penthouse apartment which they furnish.
Their first move comes about because the penthouse won’t allow children.
One sorry and believable event after another documents their financial decline.
There is a lack of narrative within the play. Jeremy Sandford noted before his death that it wouldn’t fit with today’s TV dramas due to its lack of defined conflicts and story arcs.
Sadly true, but no less a powerful and relevant play.
Heaven My Home, by Attica Locke
This is my favourite book of 2021.
Set in 2016 Texas, it tells the story of a nine-year old boy who’s gone missing one night without trace.
His ‘dirt poor’ parents and sister are convinced he’s alive. But his grandmother, who controls the town, coldly believes he’s dead.
Darren Mathews, a black Texas ranger has been sent to investigate the missing boy’s father, a known member of the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas.
Whilst staying at the grandmother’s hotel, Darren can’t help but see clues to the missing boy and to the deepening racism openly developing in the wake of Trump’s successful election.
It seems that some of the residents are so confident in their social position and standing that they don’t feel they need to cover up their actions.
Clues and intrigue are masterfully drip-fed through this gripping story of age-old racism ignited by an election and the beliefs of property and wrong-doing inherent in certain groups in society.
Additionally, Locke shows how to artfully write exposition into a story and how to show the things the protagonist can’t see.
I would love to see this book given the huge prominence it deserves.