Eva Jordan in conversation with #author @taralyonsauthor @bloodhoundbook #authorinterviews #Writer #Writerslife

October 5, 2022October 5, 2022 / Eva Jordan / Leave a comment

My book review this month is the fabulous Written In The Stars which, released on 17^th October, is a charity Christmas anthology and the brainchild of the very lovely Tara Lyons. Here, Tara talks to me about writing, her work in publishing as an editorial and production manager and the inspiration behind this brilliant collection of stories (including a short contribution by yours truly), explaining why she felt compelled to do it and why it’s so very dear to her heart.

Welcome, Tara. Can you start by telling everyone a bit about yourself?

Hi Eva, thanks for having me! I’m the author of the Detective Inspector Hamilton series and standalone suspense novel The Paramedic’s Daughter, as well as a few short stories. I’m the editorial and production manager at Bloodhound Books and have worked with the awesome team (including being published by them) for six years. I live in Hertfordshire with my son, Leo, my significant other, Daniel and our crazy cat Loki.

Did you always want to be a writer, and if so, what writers inspired you?

I wanted to be a writer from a very young age, and I was always jotting down little stories in a notebook, which I’d then wrap up and give to my mum for birthday or Christmas presents (sorry, Mum). I wrote my first article for my university magazine and went on to work for John Lewis on their in-house magazine for eight years. When my grandad passed away in 2015, my grief compelled me to start writing fictional stories as I found it very therapeutic. Life has always inspired me to write: watching the news, hearing people’s reactions to situations and that age-old question, what if? Since losing my daughter, Sofia, in 2020 I haven’t written anything new. It’s not so much about being uninspired, but more that my head isn’t in the game.

What is an editorial and production manager?

So, I’m not an editor or TV producer (as one person I met thought). My role at Bloodhound Books means I’m on the journey with every book we publish once the book deal has been approved. I liaise between the author, editor and proofreader to ensure the manuscript is where it needs to be, offering support to all those key players throughout the editorial process. Once we’ve signed it off, I then produce the final files; this includes creating and formatting the eBook and paperback files. I’ve made it sound quite simple here, but there’s a huge amount of work that goes into creating a book from its submission, and it’s a team effort.

Can you tell everyone what the inspiration behind Written In The Stars is and why you have chosen Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) and The Butterfly AVM charity as beneficiaries?

On what would have been Sofia’s third birthday, I wanted to turn my pain and sadness into something that could help other children and families. I approached Betsy at Bloodhound Books with my idea of a charity anthology to raise awareness of a life-threatening illness and charities that help children by raising money for families and research, and she gave me the green light. I just want to thank her, and the entire team, who have gone above and beyond to get my little idea off the ground: editing and proofreading the stories and shouting about it from the rooftops. We had an overwhelming number of short stories sent in, so a special thank you to all the authors who submitted; it wasn’t easy to choose. Both these charities are close to my heart. Sofia spent five days at GOSH before we had to say goodbye to her. Although it was during lockdown, the staff were amazing and showed Sofia so much love and care. They also helped us make hand and foot cast imprints with Sofia. I knew nothing about AVMs (arteriovenous malformation) before April 2020. I have since learnt loads, as you can imagine, and through this research I found The Butterfly AVM. They are the first UK charity to focus on raising money to fund research into AVMs and supporting families. Sofia passed away from a brain AVM, which we found out she would have been born with. However, she had no signs or symptoms and therefore it was a huge shock to us all. If Written in the Stars can help raise awareness and support other families in Sofia’s memory, it will mean the world to me.

And finally, for anyone thinking of becoming a writer, what advice can you offer?

There are so many great one-liners out there about writing and editing and dealing with rejection (I read that Harry Potter received 12 rejections), but one nugget I was given very early, and therefore always pass on, is: Don’t get it right, get it written. Writers are gods of procrastination and can be guilty of fiddling with the same opening line or paragraph for days because they want to get it just right. But that takes away from precious creative time. Just write your story, as raw as it comes to you. If you hit a stumbling block mid-chapter, write yourself a little note to come back to that bit and carry on. Once you have the full bare bones of your story, you can go back and edit, edit, edit. Good luck!

Thanks for being such a fab guest, Tara. We wish you every success with this wonderful anthology.

Click here to preorder your copy of this wonderful collection of stories which at the moment is only 99p!

Bah Humbug!

December 23, 2019May 21, 2021 / Eva Jordan / 1 Comment

Christmas is almost upon us, so this is the last post on my blog for the year. As ever, I’m extremely grateful to all the readers, reviewers, bloggers and other writers (many of whom I class as friends) that have taken the time to read my third novel, Time Will Tell, which was released earlier this year, and to all those that continue to read my books and support me.

Writing wise it’s been a tough year for me. Much of my time has been taken up caring for poorly family members, which at the moment doesn’t look set to change much next year. However, although my writing time is minimal, I’m determined to keep at it until my fourth novel is finished. In the meantime, over the festive period, I look forward to spending time with loved ones, and taking some time out to read. Snuggled up with a good book, a small glass of Baileys and a mince pie at hand is my idea of heaven, and the book I’m currently reading is Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol. It’s one of my absolute favourites and has now become a bit of a tradition of mine to read every Christmas.

For those of you that don’t know it, this famous Victorian tale tells the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, a solitary miser who is shown the true meaning of Christmas through a series of ghostly visitors on Christmas Eve – namely the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future, as well as a visit from the ghost of his old business partner Jacob Marley. First published in December 1843, the first edition of A Christmas Carol sold out by Christmas Eve, and by the end of the following year (due to public demand) a further 13 editions were released. In 1849 Dickens began public readings of the book, which proved to be so successful he undertook another 127 readings, right up to the year of his death in 1870.

A Christmas Carol (which has never been out of print) has been translated into several languages and adapted many times for film and stage. Some of the lesser known versions include: Carry on Christmas starring Sid James as Ebenezer, and The Six Million Dollar Man – “A Bionic Christmas Carol”, whilst some of the better known adaptions include Mickey’s (Mouse) Christmas Carol, Bill Murray’s Scrooged, Blackadder’s Christmas Carol, The Muppet Christmas Carol, and my favourite film version, Disney’s A Christmas Carol starring Jim Carrey.

Back in October this year I was honoured to the great-great-great-granddaughter of Dickens, namely author and historian Lucida Hawksley. With a keen interest in her family history, she was speaking at Wanstead Library (as part of the Fabula Festival) where she discussed Dickens’ life, including his early childhood and how his constant fear of poverty, despite being the greatest celebrity of his age, always stayed with him, due to time spent as a child labourer. She also explained that not only was he a superb novelist, but that he was also a brilliant campaign journalist, philanthropist and social reformer.

Above all else though, at a time of year when many families feel the financial burden of Christmas in what too often becomes a celebration of wealth and consumerism, A Christmas Carol reminds us that a joyful Christmas does not require Ebenezer Scrooge’s gold and that instead, “There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humour.”

Here’s wishing you all a wonderful Christmas, and a healthy, happy New Year xxx

“God bless us, every one!”

Eva Jordan reviews Miss Marley by the late @VanessaLafaye, and @rebeccamascull @HarperCollinsUK

December 9, 2019December 9, 2019 / Eva Jordan / Leave a comment

Eva Reviews Miss Marley.png

Every Christmas it has now become customary for me to read Charles Dickens’ wonderful Christmas story, A Christmas Carol; the tale of solitary miser, Ebenezer Scrooge, who is taught the true meaning of Christmas through a series of ghostly visitors on Christmas Eve, including his old business partner Jacob Marley. However, for those of you who don’t know, there is a prequel to this great Dickensian ghost story, namely Miss Marley.

Written almost two centuries after A Christmas Carol, Miss Marley tells the story of orphans Clara and Jacob Marley. The siblings spend the first happy years of their young lives living in a grand house with their parents. However, some years later after the tragic loss of both parents, Clara and Jacob then find themselves homeless and penniless. Living on the streets of London, in the shadow of the workhouse, the youngsters scavenge for food as, “Every Friday afternoon, the butcher threw scraps from his back door to the hungry street children, but all the best morsels went to bigger boys and vicious stray dogs”, relying on their wits and one another to keep each other safe. Then an opportunity presents itself, one that will allow the intrepid youngsters to flee the dangerous city streets and escape poverty. Jacob seizes it, despite the great moral price to his soul. Later, after much hard work, with the siblings once again elevated in society, Jacob meets Ebenezer Scrooge… and so begins their infamous partnership.

The author’s note by Vanessa Lafaye states how she often wondered about Marley’s backstory; an exercise that eventually consumed her imagination. Sadly, Vanessa passed away in February 2018, unable to finish this beautiful prequel. But at the request of Vanessa’s husband, and her publisher, it was, I’m pleased to say, completed by Vanessa’s good friend and fellow author, Rebecca Mascull.

Written in third person, this is the bittersweet story of Jacob Marley as seen through the eyes of his sister, Clara. Clara is a character entirely invented by the author who believed “that the idea of inhabiting Marley himself felt too much like trespassing”. Masterfully written, this evocative fable offers insight into the social observations of Victorian life, which at times reflect some of our current issues, whilst also capturing the Dickensian spirit of Christmas, complete with ghosts, goodwill, hope and redemption.

Hardcover: 176 pages

Publisher: Hq (1 Nov. 2018)

Amazon buying links here and here.

Eva Jordan reviews… The Silent Christmas by M.J. Lee

December 16, 2018April 12, 2019 / Eva Jordan / 2 Comments

Thanks to a cousin who has been researching our family tree, I recently discovered I had a Great-Great uncle who served in the trenches during WWl. He joined at the start of the war as a volunteer in 1914, and just one year later, aged twenty-one, he was dead, killed in action, his body never recovered but is commemorated on the Menin Wall in Ypres, Belgium. How apt then, I should stumble upon Martin Lee’s recently released novella, The Silent Christmas, the fifth in the Jayne Sinclair Genealogical Mystery series, which can also be read as a stand-alone.

Set in both the present day and the WWI trenches, the story centres on the informal football match believed to have taken place between the English and German soldiers during a brief truce on Christmas Day 1914. The first chapter takes us straight to the trenches on December 21st in Belgium, capturing the conditions and possible mindset of some soldiers, ‘He lay on his back on the hard ground and dreamt of England; picnicking on the grass in front of the bandstand, straw hat tipped over his eyes to shield them from the sun… A shadow crossed his face and he felt a tap against his foot. ‘Time to get up, Tom, we’re moving forward… The men began packing up… As they did so, a solitary shell from a German whizz-bang whistled overhead, landing one hundred yards past the farm. None of the men moved or even ducked; each one carried on preparing to move forward as if nothing had happened.’ We then move forward to the present day and discover Jayne Sinclair, a genealogical investigator, asked, just days before Christmas, if she can help shed light on the mystery of several items, namely a label, a silver button and a lump of leather, found in a chest in the attic of her client. Ms Sinclair, who says, ‘Our role as genealogists is to use our research to bring these lost people, the vanished people of our family, back to life,’ agrees, and the mystery begins to unravel.

Written in the third person throughout, The Silent Christmas is a fictional tale exploring the actual events that took place during December 1914, later called the ‘Christmas Truce.’ A real “feel good” story handled with great care and respect, full of hope and love, that is both well written and researched. And, as 2018 marks the 100-year anniversary of Armistice it is also particularly poignant.

You can find The Silent Christmas on Amazon

Writer Martin Lee

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Eva Jordan reviews… Sleigh Rides and Silver Bells at the Christmas Fair by Heidi Swain

December 6, 2017April 2, 2019 / Eva Jordan / Leave a comment

Book Review

Published by Simon & Schuster UK

I met author Heidi Swain earlier this year, albeit very briefly, at an author/blogger meet up. Sleigh Rides and Silver Bells at the Christmas Fair is the first of Heidi’s novels I’ve read and like the lady herself, it is absolutely charming. Whether you’re looking for something jovially celebratory to read in the run-up to Christmas, or something to curl up to with a mince pie and glass of your favourite tipple over the holidays, I can thoroughly recommend this festive, feel-good tale.

Set in the fictional Fenland town of Wynbridge (with its very own Market Place not unlike my own home town) this is the story of Anna, who, for reasons not at first obvious, isn’t particularly fond of Christmas. A bit of a nomad, she pulls out all the stops to make sure she works every Christmas, preferably in a position that will keep her both busy, and as far away from the holiday festivities as possible. Anna spots and applies for what appears to be the perfect occupation, as companion to Catherine Connolly, convalescing after an operation. Catherine, along with her husband Angus, is the owner of the somewhat isolated Wynthorpe Hall, situated on the outskirts of Wynbridge, a remote town in the Fens, which sounds ideal to Anna. “Hunkering down in the barren and frosty Fenland landscape, without so much as a carol singer in sight, would be a much appreciated soothing balm to my troubled soul and I mulled it over with relish”. Only, as is often the case with most things in life, things are not quite as they seem.

When the Connolly’s youngest son, Jamie, arrives home just before Christmas, after spending time abroad, he finds himself faced with some difficult decisions. Ones that will no doubt affect his future and that of Wynthorpe Hall. Disillusioned with the family home, can Anna help Jamie fall in love with it again, and, more importantly, can Jamie help Anna, after years of refusing to celebrate it, help her fall in love with Christmas again?

Easy to read, the story is well paced, and, as one who lives in the Fens, the setting feels heart-warmingly familiar. The characters are well rounded and believable, although it is the rather eccentric, not to mention slightly mischievous, Angus, who really captured my heart. Full of festive cheer, love, laughter and hope, Sleigh Rides and Silver Bells at the Christmas Fair is a pure joy to read, providing some light relief and escapism from, what at times, feels like a very troubled world at the moment. Definitely one I’d recommend.

A brief history of our favourite Christmas traditions

December 19, 2016April 3, 2019 / Eva Jordan / 2 Comments

christmas-baubles

Well, here we are, December is already upon us, and for those who celebrate it but have failed to notice, Christmas is well and truly on its way. Traditionally popular for gift buying, December is the month Christmas shopping begins in earnest. It is also a time for other traditions; the trimming of trees, the hanging of lights, the writing of Christmas cards, letters to Santa, turkey and mince pies, absurdly silly knitwear and mistletoe and woe in soapland.

Therefore, as a writer and lover of history, I thought it would be interesting to explore some of our Christmas traditions and where they originate.

Medieval times brought us the Holly and the Ivy. The tradition of decorating the home with evergreens is an ancient one stretching back to pagan times. Evergreens were valued for their ability to retain life in the middle of winter and holly, traditionally thought to be masculine and ivy, feminine, were believed to bring stability to the home.

holly-and-ivy

Elizabethan times brought us sugar and spice and all things nice. ‘Eat, drink and be merry’ epitomised Christmas in Elizabethan England. Spectacle was of great importance and those households that could afford it, would indulge in a Christmas feast concluding in a banqueting course of sweet and colourful delicacies. Beautifully decorated sweetmeats were accompanied by hot drinks including ‘lambswool’ – made from hot ale, cider or sherry, apples and spices, which, when hot, would explode to create a ‘wooly’ top.

xmas-punch

Victorian times brought us the Christmas tree and the Christmas cracker. The image of a glittering tree, it’s branches illuminated by twinkling lights and decorations, is one of the most powerful and recognisable images of a ‘traditional’ Christmas. The introduction of such is said to be credited to Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s husband – both great advocates of Christmas – however, he simply popularised an already existing custom originally introduced to England much earlier.

christmas-background

The story of the Christmas cracker is down to one man’s ingenuity; Tom Smith, a confectioner’s apprentice working in London in the early 19th century. After a trip to Paris in 1840, he admired the French sugared almond bon-bons wrapped in coloured tissue paper, and introduced them to London. Some years later, after watching logs crackle on a fire, he imagined a bon-bon with a bang. Adding a strip of paper – infused with chemicals which, when rubbed, created enough friction to produce a noise – inside a coloured paper wrapper containing mottoes and poems, the Christmas cracker was invented.

christmas-cracker