My final Christmas guest.

You know by now that my fellow Choc-lit and Ruby authors have conspired together to convince me - a Christmas sceptic - about the joys of the festive season. So how is that working out? Have the efforts of Ella and Helen, Angela and Berni had an effect? Well, Timmy says they certainly worked for him, and he insisted that I should find his Christmas hat and coat. I must admit he looks very smart in it. Me - maybe we still have a way to go? Today I have a guest author who has made a bit of a speciality of writing festive books for Choc-lit. Kirsty Ferry has a new paperback version of her 2019 e-book for Choc-lit out - Christmas in the Isle of Skye  and she also has a brand new book for Ruby fiction- Christmas of New Beginnings. That's versatility.

Now I have my mug of advent calendar tea - a festive fruit mix of fruit and chocolate called Chocolate Fondu and today's chocolate nibble, a dark chocolate penguin, and am all ready to let Kirsty persuade me.  She's chosen to highlight four topics from the books that are vital parts of Christmas. 

Over to you, Kirsty.

Favourite Festive Films.

In Christmas of New Beginnings, Cerys and Edie try to plan their Christmas lunch around the timings of Edie’s favourite festive films, Holiday Inn and Willy Wonka,’ but it doesn’t bode well when it’s not a fuss-free meal. When it looks like Frosties and milk are on the menu, Lovely Sam swoops in to save the day. My favourite Christmas films are Elf and Muppets’ Christmas Carol. Elf is for when I wrap my presents and the Muppets are for Christmas Eve. It’s a festive feel-good tradition!

Quirky Christmas Gifts

In Christmas of New Beginnings, Cerys owns a craft shop and tea room, and arranges a village Christmas Craft Fair, and in Christmas on the Isle of Skye, Ivy has her little jewellery business in Glastonbury, and Zac has his in Skye. It’s all the more important to buy artisan or to buy from small businesses this year – I absolutely love quirky Christmas craft fairs…helped along the stalls by a good glug of artisan mulled wine and a home-made mince pie, of course.

Seeing Friends and Family

So, so important after the non-Christmas of 2020. In both my books, there is a strong sense of family and friendship, and no mention of That Christmas or That Year. I’m hopeful that this year my family can, once again, go to our Christmas Eve Carol Concert at church with our friends, and that we’ll have my parents over for coffee and mince pies on Christmas Day afternoon, after going to their house for coffee and mince pies on Christmas Morning.

Respecting other’s beliefs and being kind

A weird one, perhaps, but in Christmas on the Isle of Skye, Ivy and Zac embrace the winter solstice celebrations in Glastonbury, as well as the traditional Christmas they are used to having. Not everyone will have the same traditions and feelings about Christmas as we ourselves do, so it’s important to remember to respect other people and understand that they might not want a big celebration, but just prefer something on a smaller scale. If it works for the person involved, then know that is absolutely fine.

I think those four are really good choices - sadly I'm not sure we will be able to meet with family and friends in quite the free and easy way we were all hoping, but remembering them is still important. I'm really with Kirsty on the last one - one of the things that I dislike about December is the darkness and the cold and I do have a little celebration for myself for the solstice and light a candle, because it marks the point when we start going forward into the light again. I'm glad that Kirsty has reminded me about this. 

Has she succeeded in winning me round? You'll have to wait until later in the week to find out. I still have that empty tree, remember ...

***

Kirsty is writing for the first time for Ruby Fiction with Christmas of New Beginnings - but you can still be sure of a captivating story that's available as an e-book and a paperback 

Not all festive wishes come true right away – sometimes it takes five Christmases …

Folk singer Cerys Davies left Wales for the South Downs village of Padcock at Christmas, desperate for a new beginning. And she ends up having plenty of those: opening a new craft shop-tea room, helping set up the village’s first festive craft fair, and, of course, falling desperately in love with Lovely Sam, the owner of the local pub. It’s just too bad he’s firmly in the clutches of Awful Belinda …

Perhaps Cerys has to learn that some new beginnings take a while to … well, begin! But with a bit of patience, some mild espionage, a generous sprinkling of festive magic and a flock of pub-crashing sheep, could her fifth Christmas in Padcock lead to her best new beginning yet?

You can buy the book HERE

Christmas on the Isle of Skye is part of Kirsty's series that includes Spring at Taigh Fallon, Summer at Carrick Park and Jessie’s Little Bookshop by the Sea.

How far would you go to be with the one you love at Christmas?
The Isle of Skye is a magical place, especially at Christmas, and there’s no place Zac Fallon would rather be. But whilst Zac has everything he needs on Skye, there’s still something missing – and that something is a somebody called Ivy McFarlane.

Ivy used to work with Zac but then spread her wings and moved to Glastonbury. He’s missed her ever since. Now it’s almost Christmas and Zac realises that the Ivy shaped hole in his life is too big to bear. So starts his festive mission to the mainland – but will he be back in time to spend Christmas in Skye? And, more importantly, will Ivy be with him?

You can buy this one HERE

You can follow Kirsty on Twitter @kirsty_ferry

 

If you are are looking for one more Choc-lit festive read and haven't treated yourself to Marie Laval's 2019 book Bluebell's Christmas Magic yet - that one is now out in paperback too. HERE

I Hate Christmas!

 

That's not quite right. I don't hate Christmas - It's just that unlike some people, it's not really my favourite time of the year - too dark and cold for a start, and you know how I am about warmth and sunshine. As world travel and the bank manager prevent a quick bolt to the Caribbean, I've been looking at ways to celebrate. As you know, authors from Choc-lit and her sister imprint Ruby Fiction are quite good at Christmas books - you might say it's a speciality. And I have written a Christmas book myself, although it was, of course, a Christmas romantic suspense - the result of a challenge from a couple of author friends - and the hero ended up getting kidnapped and nearly murdered. It did have a very traditional snow-bound celebration in the Brecon Beacons in the middle, so it wasn't all bad! 

Anyway, in order to get in the mood for the festivities this year, I've done some preparations. I have two advent calendars - one for tea, from a company called Yawn, and one, of course, for chocolate, from Hotel Chocolat. I've opened the doors for 1 December today. The tea was Black Forest Black Tea - pomegranate, cherry stems, moringa, cocoa beans, cranberry, cornflower and safflower petals (plus the ubiquitous natural flavours) - and very nice too. A very good representation in tea form for the Black Forest gateau, for those of you old enough to remember when that was all the rage. It was loose tea, so I had to find my grandmother's little teapot to make it! The chocolate  was a mini Father Christmas - and he tasted good too.  

I'll update you on what is behind future doors in the posts this month, running up to the big day. I've had a scout around on the contents list for the tea and am particularly looking forward to sampling Ruby Amaretto on 11th, Sleigh Ride Tea Toddy on 14th and  Chocolate Fondue on 22nd, but there are plenty of other interesting ones in between too.   

The other thing I have done is invite some of 'the family' who have Christmas books out this year to come on the blog and tell me a few things from the books that will convince me that I really don't hate Christmas at all. I'm sure they will manage it - they are a talented bunch - and we will all have a some fun with it too. So in the next three weeks I'll be welcoming Kirsty Ferry, Angela Britnell, Marie Laval, Berni Stevens and starting off next week with  Helen Bridgett and Ella Cook, who actually celebrated Christmas in July! 

I hope you will join us and help me get into the Christmas spirit. 

Meeting Claire Sheldon - to talk about her second book - A Silent Child

 

An expression you will frequently hear in writing circles is “The Difficult Second Book”. The next book after a debut is supposed to be notoriously difficult to write.  There are some supporting factors for this idea. The first book might have been written and revised over a long period of time, years even. If the writer attends courses or belongs to a professional organization it may also have had the benefit of all sorts of advice and critique services. Then, after the euphoria of actually being published, reality strikes. You have to do it all again.  Your timetable is now in months, not years, and you have an editor to please!  And the biggest factor of all – you have readers – people who hopefully enjoyed the first book and are looking for more of the same, expecting it to be as good or even better.

 

With this in mind, when I invited Claire Sheldon on to the blog today I suggested this was something we could discuss. Clare’s first published book – a twisty thriller called Perfect Lie came out in June last year. Now her second in the “Lisa Carter Files” - A Silent Child, arrived as an e-book and paperback from Ruby fiction on 23 March 2021, and is already picking up great reviews.

 

Claire was happy to talk about the work that went into both books – but was the second book a problem?

 

For the first book, Clare’s protagonist, Jen, didn’t start out as a detective

 

When Perfect Lie was originally written Jen was going to be a former MI5 agent - same storyline and with the same characters but Max and the team were MI5 agents and not detectives. I had some interest from another publisher and when working with them we decided that it was best if she was just a former detective which is how Perfect Lie made it into the format it is in today.

 

As often happens in the world of books, that deal didn’t actually materialise, but Claire had already taken all the best advice for would-be published authors and was well into writing the next book - A Silent Child.

 

When I was signed by Choc-Lit/Ruby  I had one and a half books, but had to go back through A Silent Child and remove or change all the references to MI5 and then complete it to submit, which I did around the time Perfect Lie was released.

 

So far, so good. Difficult second book, what difficult second book? It was all systems go for book three. (And book four)  But then you throw in a pandemic.

 

I was all yeah I’m going to write book three and get it submitted when A Silent Child gets released! HA! I’ve been struggling! I have an idea for book four, contract permitting, but the events in book three have to happen first and any sort of creative writing has gone out the window. I don’t know if that is due to Lockdown and home schooling while spending most of my day sat at my computer working from home or the fact I brought a new computer game with my first Choc-lit pay cheque! The third book isn’t happening and won’t be being submitted by the 23^rd March. Some say it’s the second book that is the killer, but in my case it is most definitely the third!

 

 I have every sympathy for that “life intervenes” scenario. My first two books were already written when Choc-lit took me on – they’d been completed for a reality writing contest in America – then life threw me a couple of curve balls and  there was a long gap before the next one came out. Claire clearly has her plans for books three and four mapped out. While she may not have met her own strict time table – and writers can be notorious perfectionists - there is still plenty of time for another installment to be ready for 2022.  We will be cheering her on, and in the meantime there are Perfect Lie and A Silent Child to enjoy.

 

 

The brand new book – A Silent Child

 

The streets are no place for a child ...

After a traumatic event that almost ripped Jen Garner’s family apart, life is finally starting to get back to normal.
Then a woman’s body is found in the river. Shortly afterwards, a young boy is discovered wandering the streets. He refuses to speak to anyone, just repeats one name over and over, to the confusion of most of the local authorities –but Jen knows exactly who he’s asking for, and it’s enough to make her blood run cold ...

To buy your copy click here

 

 

The first in Series - Perfect Lie

 

What is ‘perfect’ trying to hide?
Jen Garner tries her best to be ‘wife and mother of the year’. She helps organise school plays and accompanies her husband to company dinners, all with a big smile on her face.
But Jen has started to receive strange gifts in the post ... first flowers, then a sympathy card.
It could just be a joke; that’s what she tells herself. But then the final ‘gift’ arrives, and Jen has to question why somebody is so intent on shattering her life into pieces ...

To buy Perfect Lie click here.

Claire’s biography

Claire lives in Nottingham with her family, a cat called Whiskers and a dog called Podrick. She suffers from Multiple Sclerosis and as a result of the disease had to reduce her hours working in insurance for an Insolvency Insurer. This spare time enabled her to study a creative writing course which inspired her to write her debut, Perfect Lie. When Claire isn't working she enjoys reading crime novels and listening to music - the band Jimmy Eat World is her biggest muse! Claire is also an avid reader and book blogger. The inspiration for her novels comes from the hours spent watching The Bill with her grandparents and auntie; then later, Spooks and other detective programmes like Morse, A Touch of Frost and Midsummer Murders

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Christmas Surprise - Cosy Christmas Treats

 

My publishers, Choc-lit, are known for their Christmas books and several have been published in the last few weeks, but there was one last surprise on the way - a volume of short stories and flash fiction from twenty of the Choc-lit and Ruby authors that was released on Monday. Many of the stories are Christmas themed, but there are other types as well. Some are new, some have appeared previously  in the publisher's newsletter. The e-book is available from Amazon, priced 77p, and the proceeds are going to Shelter. Buy HERE  

I've got a little something in there - it's a treat the was published a few years ago when What Happens at Christmas was released. It's the very last one in the book. Set on Christmas day, based very loosely on a real life event and with a rather naughty ending! 

Ruby author Jan Baynham has two completely new stories in the anthology and the second one gives us a glimpse of the kind of Christmas her characters from Her Mother's Secret might be spending. I've invited her on to the blog to tell us about the research she  did. Over to you, Jan: 

When I was asked to write a short story for the Ruby and Choc Lit anthology, Cosy Christmas Treats, I began to wonder what Christmas would be like for my character Alexandra in Her Mother's Secret when she spent her first Christmas in Greece. The story entitled, Christmas Surprises on Péfka, is a stand-alone but those who have read my debut novel will know that most of the story is set on the fictional island off the Peloponnese.

In the past, the Greek people didn’t use Christmas trees to adorn their houses. An old and very traditional decoration is a shallow wooden bowl with a piece of wire dangling along the rim. On this wire hangs a small wooden cross with a sprig of basil wrapped around it. Once a day someone, usually the mother, dips the cross and basil into some holy water and uses it to sprinkle in each room of the house. This ritual is believed to keep the Kallikantzaroi, the Greek Christmas goblins, away from the house. While this is still the case throughout many regions, Christmas trees have been rising in popularity over the past few centuries. Over the years, the Christmas tree was integrated into the local culture and now the Greeks decorate fir trees in their homes and in squares

The Christmas season in Greece begins on December 6th, which is Saint Nikolaos day, and ends on January 6th with the Feast of the Epiphany. As this is a maritime country, the Greeks traditionally decorate boats for Christmas. This custom survives today in seaside towns and islands, where people decorate Christmas boats in the central squares. Saint Nikolaos is the patron saint of sailors and fishermen. It is said he worked hard to save sailors from the angry seas. Especially on the islands, you will see boats decorated with blue and white lights.

‘To the left of the quayside, she noticed a large sailing ship where the full sails were festooned with tiny lights sparkling like diamonds against the indigo sky as well as the hull of the ship and its tall mast at the top of which was an illuminated cross.’

On Christmas Eve, children often go out singing kalanda (carols) in the streets, travelling from house to house. They play drums and triangles as they sing. Sometimes, following a very old custom on the Greek islands, they carry model boats which are filled with nuts painted gold. If they sing well, they will be rewarded with nuts, sweets, dried figs and sometimes money

On Christmas Eve, too, it is traditional to bake Christ’s Bread, Christopsomo, ready to eat on Christmas day. It is a round, slightly sweet, light, buttery bread, infused with cinnamon, orange, and cloves. The top is decorated with a cross. A knife is never used to cut the bread as it is considered to be harmful to the good spirit that Christopsomo symbolises. Other traditional Christmas sweets are melomakarona, honey-dipped and often stuffed with nuts, and kourabiedes, dusted with powdered sugar and very white.

‘Plates of baklava and oblong shaped melomakarono covered in chopped walnuts were laid out on the work units, along with the customary Christopsomo, the special Christmas bread... The smell of cinnamon, oranges and cloves hung in the warm air.’

These are just a few of the many Christmas traditions I read about. The Greek people have so many interesting customs and traditions; it was fascinating for me to find out how some of those ancient traditions are celebrated alongside the new in modern Greece.

Kala Christouvenna. Merry Christmas to you all.

A big thank you, Evonne, for inviting me onto your blog.

*****

You can buy a copy of Her Mother's Secret in e-book or audio HERE

Originally from mid-Wales, Jan lives in Cardiff with her husband. In October 2019, her first collection of short stories was published.  As well as writing shorts and flash fiction, she writes full length novels where she can explore her characters in further depth and delve more into their stories. Her books deal with family secrets and explore the bond between mothers and daughters. Set in the last year of the 60s, her debut novel, ‘Her Mother’s Secret’, takes you to sun-drenched Greece, her favourite holiday destination, and was published by Ruby Fiction in April 2020. This was followed by ‘Her Sister’s Secret’ in September 2020.

Having joined the Romantic Novelists Association in 2016, she values the friendship and support from other members and regularly attends conferences, workshops, talks and get togethers. She is co-organiser of  Cariad, her local RNA Chapter. 

You may find out more about Jan here:

Twitter: @JanBaynham   Twitter    

Facebook: Jan Baynham Writer     Facebook    

Blog: Jan’s Journey into Writing Blog