Austen, vampires, Wales and monsters—what a mashup! But my title nicely sums up my activities over the last few weeks. What on earth have I been up to? Allow me to take you through it.
Austen
This Wednesday (28th) is the release day for Tea with Austen. I’ve been promoting the hell out of it to encourage as many pre-order sales as possible. These all help towards opening week sales and positioning on the zon. It’s all good practice for when my novels (when…oh when… more on that later) are released.
Once again, I’m apprehensive and excited about sharing my work. I hope you enjoy my short story, Wooing Miss Woodforde. Part of the proceeds go to breast cancer research, so every unit sale and page read count. Please don’t forget to leave a review. Even if it’s short, it really helps.
Vampires
As I promised a couple of weeks ago, I dived into reading an Austen-vampire mashup while in Wales. I loved Jane Bites Back by Michael Thomas Ford. I read it on a bustling beach in Anglesey on the hottest day of our getaway.
Ford did a brilliant job with the characters and, while I won’t give any spoilers (after doing some research about Austen and vampires for my next Austen short story) I recognised some influences he drew upon. There was also plenty of gentle mockery of some beloved classic authors, the Jane Austen fandom, and the romance genre combined with a dose of cosy mystery. As Miss Austen was so good at satire, I think she would have approved.
Wales
It was so nice to have a complete break from writing for a week (except for the Tea with Austen promo). We stayed on the island of Anglesey, and we were blessed with fine weather for most of the week. Yippee!
Naturally, I dragged my family to the nearest castle at Beaumaris and we walked through the remains of what was supposed to have been the best castle that was never built. Edward I wanted Beaumaris to be the biggest and strongest display of his authority over the Welsh, but when the Scots decided they’d had enough of his attempts to conquer them, he had to divert funds to fight up north instead. (Yep, I’m talking about William Wallace and Robert the Bruce, etc.)
Monsters
While in Wales, I started reading From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout and I’m still only halfway through. This is another romantasy series that people rave about, but I’m not sure what to make of it.
For a start, it’s taking me ages to read it, which is never a good sign. I don’t feel connected to the characters, and I’m not convinced the author has balanced the world building and intrigue appropriately. As I said, I’m halfway through, and I still don’t feel like I fully understand what makes the world work. Oh, and there’s some sort of vampiric and possibly zombie-like monsters involved. Again, it’s not fully explained. Perhaps I’ll have a light bulb moment where it all slots together at some point. As it is, it still feels a little disjointed.
Have you read this book or series and does it improve? I think there are about seven books in the series and a prequel series. If I end up reading more, I’m in for a long ride.
So after all the excitment of Austen, vampires, Wales and monsters, this week will be busy with book release stuff and I’m trying to get back to editing The Radical Heiress. It’s time to get the job done or it will never be published, and all this promo practice will be pointless.
I love Wales. In fact, I’m heading there in a couple of weeks. I’m glad you enjoyed Anglesey. We just had a quick boo through Beaumaris a couple of years ago, but also explored some of the neolithic sites on the island.