Stella's Christmas Wish – read all about it!

I’m delighted with some early reviews:

‘ … engaging, credible and interesting characters, and a couple of good twists … ’ (Amazon)

‘ … Finally we discover what the Christmas Wish of the title is based on and sigh contentedly. Curl up and enjoy ... ’ (Goodreads)

‘ … You will love all the characters and their relationships and the dual setting of the Borders and Edinburgh creates a very real background for the story. … ’ (Amazon)

‘ … A Christmas romance and a family secret, with characters I thought about long after I finished reading.’ (Amazon)

Guest posts, lists, extracts, interview:

https://lindasbookbag.com/2016/11/03/three-wishes-a-guest-post-by-kate-blackadder-author-of-stellas-christmas-wish/

http://wendyswritingnow.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/im-dreaming-of-black-and-white.html

http://rachelsrandomreads.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/guest-post-tis-season-to-gather-in.html

http://jennyharperauthor.co.uk/kate-blackadders-new-book-is-all-about-sisters-and-secrets/

http://katewritesandreads.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/stellas-christmas-wish-publication-day.html

Look out for the forthcoming blog tour ...

And read the book for yourself (leave a review if you can) …

Published by Black and White Publishing and available on Amazon as an e-book 99p:

myBook.to/Stella 

Stella's Christmas Wish – publication day

katewritesandreads interviews … Kate Blackadder

katewritesandreads: So – today’s the day! Publication of your first full-length novel, Stella’s Christmas Wish.

Kate Blackadder: Yes! It’s a day I’ve dreamed of since I used to scribble stories in old school jotters.

katewritesandreads: Can you tell us something about Stella herself?

KB: She’s a financial whizz; for the last fifteen months she’s been a high-flyer in a City of London office. She enjoys her job but she’s a home-loving girl too  – and home is far from London, in Melrose in the Scottish Borders.

katewritesandreads: Is she anything like you?

KB: Not at all – except that I spent six years in London, the first few months in a blur of homesickness.

katewritesandreads: Aw. But Stella has no option but to stick it out, does she?

KB: That’s right. And she misses her younger sister, Maddie, and Alice, the granny who brought them up, so much – but she doesn’t want to go home to Melrose because she’ll bump into her ex-boyfriend Ross and she doesn’t know how she’d handle that. They parted on very bad terms. So she and Alice and Maddie planned to spend Christmas in Maddie’s flat in Edinburgh.

katewritesandreads: And then … ?

KB: That plan falls through, big time. Six days before Christmas Alice is taken to hospital. Maddie has gone away and it seems that Alice is the only one who knows where and why – but she’s unconscious and can’t tell Stella anything.

katewritesandreads: A mystery … and is Stella on her own with all this going on?

KB: Ross’s grandfather, Gray, has always been a big part of Stella’s life. He tries to help.

katewritesandreads: I guess Stella’s not feeling very Christmassy?

KB: She’s not, but as she walks around Edinburgh she sees the huge glittering tree on the Mound, and the skating rink with all the stalls round it, the big wheel and the German market – not to mention the shop windows and the carol singers … 

katewritesandreads: Christmas is hard to avoid, isn’t it?

KB: <nods> And when she does, reluctantly, go down to Melrose, the Border hills are all snowy, like a Christmas card scene, and she ends up decorating the tree in her granny’s house which brings back all sorts of memories for her. So she can’t help feeling a little of the magic of Christmas despite everything going wrong for her.

katewritesandreads: So what does she wish for?

KB: I will leave readers to find that out for themselves, if you don’t mind. I’m off to have a celebratory glass of fizz.

katewritesandreads: Enjoy the rest of publication day.

KB: Thank you. Cheers! And, lovely people, if you read Stella's Christmas Wish it would be much appreciated if you could take the time to leave a review online. 

May all your Christmas wishes be granted.

Stella’s Christmas Wish is published by Black & White Publishing today, 3 November 2016 (99p).

Find out more about my writing here and here.

Guest post by Helena Fairfax

I’m delighted to have this guest post from Helena Fairfax (and not just because she loves Edinburgh!).

Scottish mystery in A Year of Light and Shadows, by Helena Fairfax

Thanks for hosting me on your blog, Kate!

Your home city of Edinburgh is one of my favourite cities in the world. I love the mix of the old and the new, the dark buildings and alleyways, the views of the sea and the arches of the Forth Bridge stretching away. I don’t think there’s another city quite like it. I remember the first time I ever visited, stepping out of Waverley train station and onto bustling Princes Street. A man in a kilt was playing the bagpipes in front of one of the dark stone Victorian buildings, and at the top of the street, perched on a volcanic crag and dominating the skyline, was Edinburgh Castle. It was a magnificent and unforgettable sight.

One thing that struck me about Edinburgh (and still does whenever I visit) was its bloody and dramatic history. What sights the Castle must have seen!

In my novella The Scottish Diamond – the second book in my anthology A Year of Light and Shadows –my heroine describes visiting the Castle:

For hundreds of years its dark battlements have dominated the Edinburgh skyline, a symbol of royal power. This is no fairy tale castle, but one of military might. Whenever I pass through the imposing stonework of Portcullis Gate, I think of all the footsteps that have trodden this path before me down the ages – of the bloody battles, the royal ceremonies, of King James VI’s birth here, the deaths of queens, of Oliver Cromwell’s army, and of the doomed Jacobite uprising. The walls enclosing the castle bear witness to great turning-points in history. It’s a place to inspire awe.

Edinburgh is the perfect setting for a story of mystery, romance, and intrigue. 

Here is the blurb to the anthology:

A Year of Light and Shadows contains three romantic mysteries in one volume.

Palace of Deception

From the heat of the Mediterranean ...

When the Princess of Montverrier goes missing, Lizzie Smith takes on the acting job of her life. Alone and surrounded by intrigue in the Royal Palace, she relies on her quiet bodyguard, Léon. But who is he really protecting? Lizzie ... or the Princess?

The Scottish Diamond

To the heart of Scotland ...

Home in Scotland, Lizzie begins rehearsals for Macbeth, and finds danger stalking her through the streets of Edinburgh. She turns to her former bodyguard, Léon, for help – and discovers a secret he'd do anything not to reveal ...

A Question by Torchlight

A story of mystery and romance ...

The approach of Hogmanay in Edinburgh means a new year and new resolutions. Lizzie and Léon have put their year of danger behind them. But something is still troubling Léon, and Lizzie fears the worst ...

  

BUY LINKS: A Year of Light and Shadows is available on pre-order on Amazon: http://mybook.to/lightandshadows

and on Kobo https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/a-year-of-light-and-shadows

and other major e-tailers. The print version is coming soon!

* * *

Social Links

If you’d like to get in touch, or find out more about my books, writing, and photos of my settings or the Yorkshire moors where I live, please follow my newsletter by subscribing here:

All new subscribers to my newsletter will receive a FREE copy of Palace of Deception – the first book in the collection A Year of Light and Shadows

You can also visit me on my website at www.helenafairfax.com, or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/HelenaFairfax/, or Twitter https://twitter.com/HelenaFairfax

Author Biography
Helena Fairfax writes engaging contemporary romances with sympathetic heroines and heroes she's secretly in love with. Her novels have been shortlisted for several awards, including the Exeter Novel Prize, the Global Ebook Awards, the I Heart Indie Awards, and the UK's Romantic Novelists' Association New Writers' Scheme Award.
Helena is a British author who was born in Uganda and came to England as a child. She's grown used to the cold now, and these days she lives in an old Victorian mill town in the north of England, right next door to the windswept Yorkshire moors. She walks this romantic landscape every day with her rescue dog, finding it the perfect place to dream up her heroes and her happy endings.

* * *

Thanks very much for having me today, Kate. I always love to revisit Edinburgh!

My pleasure, Helena.

A Learning Curve and a Half

When I put twelve of my magazine stories together for publishing on Kindle as Three’s a Crowd it was a learning curve and a half to format them. I've used Word for years and years but there were sections of the formatting palette I hadn't known existed.

And – aargh – the hyperlinking, linking the contents to each chapter head. Apparently hyperlinking is easy-peasy on a PC but I work on a Mac … a kind friend pointed me in the direction of this YouTube video.

Then there was all the US tax info to sort out. They say tomayto, we say tomahto … they don’t call it your UTR (Unique Tax Reference) number but that’s what they are looking for. However, thankfully, the tax form only needs to be completed the first time you publish on Kindle.

There were a couple of things I couldn’t figure out so I got in touch via the KDP contact form and got friendly, helpful replies – from real people  –within twenty-four hours.

And I happen to have a graphic-designer husband who was also friendly and helpful, in the matter of putting the cover together.

If you’re planning to publish through Kindle Direct Publishing for the first time my first top tip would be to print out all their directions first and read through them, highlighting anything you’re not sure about and finding out how to do that first. Much easier than trying to juggle the directions on one half of your computer screen and your Word doc on the other. 

My second top tip is to marry a graphic designer.

Easy when you know how … second time around, I wondered what I’d made such a fuss about. I’ve put one of my magazine serials up: The Ferryboat

When Judy and Tom Jeffreys are asked by their daughter Holly and her Scottish chef husband Corin if they will join them in buying The Ferryboat hotel in the West Highlands, they take the plunge and move north.

The rundown hotel needs much expensive upgrading – and what with local opposition to some of their plans, and worrying about their younger daughter, left down south with her flighty grandma, Judy begins to wonder if they’ve made a terrible mistake.

I might even do it a third time …

Coming on Kindle NEXT WEEK, written by me but published by Black & White Publishing is:

You can pre-order it now for a bargain 99p and it will be on your Kindle on 3 November.

One phone call can change everything...

Six days before Christmas, Stella could never have anticipated the impact on her life when the phone rings in her London office.

The phone call is from a friend of the family informing Stella that her grandmother has been hurt in a fall at her home in the Scottish borders and is in hospital. Torn between her responsibilities at work and the need to be with her grandmother she decides she must return to Scotland immediately.

However, on her return to where she grew up, it becomes apparent that her grandmother’s health is not her only concern. Relationships which have lain dormant for years are re-kindled and fresh opportunities present themselves – if she will only dare to take them...

Stella's Christmas Wish

Christmas has come early for me this year with the imminent publication of my first full-length novel Stella’s Christmas Wish. It’s from Edinburgh publishers Black and White Publishing – the cover isn’t black and white though; it’s in pretty colours, with my name on it …

You can pre-order now for a bargain 98p and it will be on your Kindle on 3 November.

One phone call can change everything...

Six days before Christmas, Stella could never have anticipated the impact on her life when the phone rings in her London office.

The phone call is from a friend of the family informing Stella that her grandmother has been hurt in a fall at her home in the Scottish borders and is in hospital. Torn between her responsibilities at work and the need to be with her grandmother she decides she must return to Scotland immediately.

However, on her return to where she grew up, it becomes apparent that her grandmother’s health is not her only concern. Relationships which have lain dormant for years are re-kindled and fresh opportunities present themselves – if she will only dare to take them...

Up until now I’ve had published around fifty short stories and three magazine serials and I self-published a collection of short stories Three’s a Crowd. I'm very excited to have written A Whole Novel and very very excited to be having it published by Black and White Publishing who say they are ‘committed to publishing the best books from the most talented writers in the UK’.

Six in September

I read six books in September.

This Must be the Place by Maggie O’Farrell

Two pics for this title – the jacket and the lovely binding underneath. 

I’ve liked all of Maggie O’Farrell’s books – but while I’ve found them page-turning and engaging while reading them, apart from The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox I haven’t thought about them much once I’ve finished them and in retrospect can’t really distinguish one title from another. I do hope that doesn’t happen with This Must be the Place because I absolutely loved it and a few weeks after finishing it still think about the characters as if they were people I actually knew.

I saw her at the Edinburgh Book Festival this year – before I bought the book. Chicken and egg – I’d like to have read it first so that I could appreciate what she said about it more, and maybe have had a question to ask her myself.

Casting Off by P I Paris

Set in a Highland Care Home, this explores some serious issues in a truly laugh-out-loud way. When the residents are told that their fees are going up by an exorbitant amount some of them take it upon themselves to raise money in a variety of ways – and, despite the cover picture, it’s certainly not all about knitting egg cosies. As the publisher’s blurb has it, this is Calendar Girls meets The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. See a post by the author on this blog.

Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella

Sophie Kinsella’s first book designated for Young Adults and as warm and funny as her readers, including me, will expect. Actually any of her books could be enjoyed by Young Adults as well as by Old Adults …  but this one has a teenage protagonist. I liked that she was called Audrey – I think it’s odd that the name is not more popular given the iconic-ness of Miss Hepburn.

Courting the Countess by Anne Stenhouse

Lady Melissa Pateley has been virtually abducted by handsome Colonel Harry Gunn – for her own safety because Melissa has been left a rich widow and there are those, including Harry’s deranged cousin, who would like to get their hands on her fortune – and on herself. Melissa and Harry develop a relationship but then he discovers a family secret which could put paid to that continuing. The story takes place against the backdrop of beautiful Regency Edinburgh. A great read. (Check out Anne Stenhouse's previous Regencies including Bella's Betrothal also set in Edinburgh.)

Fashion on the Ration by Julie Summers

I saw this exhibition when I was in London last year. The make-do-and-mend ingenuity shown by women during the Second World War was light years away from popping down to Primark – silk underwear made out of maps issued to RAF pilots, coats made out of blankets, a duster as a headscarf, earrings from shattered aircraft windscreens …

The many fascinating things I leaned from the book included: to save cloth that could be used for uniforms men’s trousers could not have turn-ups; you’d slide off a chair when you wore a parachute-silk dress; shortage of elastic meant knickers had to have buttons; there were no extra coupons for maternity clothes. This would be a terrific resource if you were writing a book/story set in the 40s.

And – not exactly a book, but well-worth mentioning – I read the summer issue of Slightly Foxed ‘The Real Reader’s Quarterly’. Great writing and a lovely line-drawing-illustrated production. I bought it in the wonderful Topping bookshop in St Andrews and am thinking of subscribing (Santa, if you’re reading this … )

Five in August

I read five books in August.

Wars of the Roses: Stormbird by Conn Iggulden

The first of a series, Stormbird is about the accession to the throne of England of ‘the Lamb’, the sickly Henry VI. ‘With England's territories in France under threat, and rumours of revolt at home, fears grow that Henry and his advisers will see the country slide into ruin. With a secret deal struck for Henry to marry a young French noblewoman, Margaret of Anjou, those fears become all too real.’ As the English famers resident in France are driven from the country (in scenes not for the faint-hearted), Margaret (aged just fourteen) realises that she must not just be the king’s wife but make decisions on his behalf. Terrific. Like the best historical novels it inspires further reading, not only of the other books in the series, but on finding out more about Margaret of Anjou, and about the Battle of Agincourt which is much alluded to.

The Bird That Did Not Sing by Alex Gray

A second book this month with ‘bird’ in the title, but a quite different genre. This is the first book I’ve read about Glasgow’s DCI Lorimer and it’s the eleventh in the series so I have a lot to catch up on, always a good thing. Anarchy and people-trafficking plus a red-haired woman from Lorimer’s past, all set against the background of the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

The Last Tour of Archie Forbes by Victoria Hendry

Delighted to say that Victoria is a fellow-member of Edinburgh Writers’ Club and that I’ve known her since before her acclaimed first novel A Capital Union was published. That book was set during the Second World War. This one is also about a war but a much more recent one. Archie Forbes, former financial lawyer and Army reservist, is homeless on the streets of Edinburgh after active service in Afghanistan has left him with post-traumatic stress disorder and a broken marriage.

His feelings are beautifully illustrated when he looks at a magpie ‘in his feathered uniform of black, white and brilliant green’. Where, he wonders, ‘did this eternally perfect magpie come from? Where were all the old magpies, the sick magpies, the magpies down on their luck.’ His struggles to cope are leavened by black humour – such as the way (I won’t tell you what) he endeavours to make some money.

The Last Tour of Archie Forbes is a tour de force I would say.

The Gunner Girl by Clare Harvey

Set during the last war, three girls from varying backgrounds join the ATS. The Gunner Girl is based on memories of the author’s mother-in-law and was the recent winner of the Romantic Novelists’ Association Joan Hessayon Award – but is much bleaker and grittier than that award might perhaps lead you to expect.

Stoner by John Williams

Read on Kindle. Stoner was first published in 1965 and reissued as a Vintage Classic in 2012 and has gone on to become a word-of-mouth best-seller, with accolades from literary giants, and lauded as ‘the must-read novel of 2013’ by the Guardian. It tells the story of Missouri farm boy William Stoner who is sent to study agriculture but gets diverted into literature and becomes a lecturer. It’s billed as the story of a quiet life and that appealed to me. But I’m afraid I struggled to see what the fuss is about.

After his first – and only – rebellion in not going back to his parents’ farm, Stoner lives a life that is passive. Unlike his (only) two friends he doesn’t join up when war comes in 1914. He marries Edith who is droopy and neurotic and horrible to him (although of course we only see her from his viewpoint); his colleagues in the main don’t respect him and he says himself he’s an indifferent teacher, unable to fully pass on his passion for his subject. Pages are devoted to his last illness.

The style is clearly deliberate but, in creative-writing-class parlance, it’s ‘telling not showing’, very distancing. For example, he is frequently referred to by his full name and the much-vaunted beautiful prose reads, in my opinion, like the dullest non-fiction: ‘In the second semester of that school year William Stoner dropped his basic science course … ’

There are 723 5* reviews on Amazon so you should read it for yourself rather than take my word for it. Perhaps I had the wrong expectations – I thought I was getting another Mr Chips, instead I got Mr Chips-on-the-shoulder.