#books

See tagged statuses in the local Rambling Readers community

How many deaths to end a war? ‘Eyes Turned Skywards’ is a fast-paced thriller set mainly in northern Scotland during World War Two. It uses many real settings, transported eight decades back in time.

In the book the fictional Sarclet Castle on the east coast of Caithness has a great hall based on that at Eilean Donan Castle, shown here. The central character dines in it when he stays at Sarclet Castle.

Find out more on my website:
http://www.kenlussey.com/ets/index.html

This modern image shows the great hall at Eilean Donan Castle, on which that at the fictional Sarclet Castle is based. It is a large and imposing stone-walled room with a blue and green tartan carpet and an exposed-beam wooden ceiling. There’s a large dining table in the centre of the room and a stone fireplace occupies much of the right-hand wall. Lights are suspended from the ceiling. The front cover of ‘Eyes Turned Skywards’ is shown in the top right corner.

1/4: Do you include in-jokes, hidden messages, or “Easter eggs” in your writing?
There are definitely allusions that only come across if you share a certain cultural background, but isn’t that going to be true of all writing? You can’t footnote everything that some people might not get.
But I’m careful to avoid anything that’s too clearly grounded in contemporary culture or idiomatic language, because that could break the worldbuilding.

🖤 My novel GODHUNTER will be available in audio starting on April 8th, narrated by Marnye Young. I’m so excited to share this trailer with everyone!

🖤 If you’re interested, the universal book link in my profile lists some of the marketplaces where you can order it, but I couldn’t get them all up. When in doubt, please try a search! I hope it will be in available libraries too.

@bookstodon

A video showing images of a woman in a black veil, a graveyard, a crow, ships, the sea, lanterns, and underwater images. All relevant to the book. The first frame text reads "Coming April 8th." The last reads "Now Available in Audio."

No, people, you don't understand

The Animal Family is the most damn wholesome book I have ever read in my life.

Like seriously.

There are some many dawwwww moments in it I can't even.

Case in point: big awkward hunter falls in love with a mermaid. And she moves into his house. Except she hates that the house doesn't move. She can't sleep still. So he makes her a rocking chair.

And they adopt a bear. And a lynx. AND a baby.

And it is so beautifully written.

in 1862.

The first two volumes of Victor Hugo's epic historical novel Les Misérables appear in Brussels, followed on April 3 by Paris publication, with the remaining volumes on May 15. The first English-language translations, by Charles Edwin Wilbour, are published in New York on June 7, and by Frederic Charles Lascelles Wraxall, in London in October.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Mis%C3%A9rables

Les Misérables at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=Les+Mis%C3%A9rables&submit_search=Search

Émile Bayard, Cosette sweeping, 1862, reproduced in Victor Hugo, Les Misérables (London, G. Routledge and Sons), 1887. Rare Books Collection, State Library of Victoria.

A city at peace in a world at war. ‘The Stockholm Run’ is a fast-paced thriller set in Scotland and Sweden during World War Two. It uses many real settings, transported eight decades back in time.

This modern photograph shows the Dockmaster's House on the small shipbuilding island of Beckholmen in Stockholm. The house is used as the venue for an important meeting in the book.

Find out more on our website:
https://www.arachnid.scot/book-tsr/index.html

The image shows a small beige house built in classical style. The main block is three bays wide by two storeys high and it has a pediment with an oculus above. There are single window extensions on both sides and a door in the centre. The house is approached via climbing drive beyond a gate and hedge. There are trees on the left. The front cover of 'The Stockholm Run' is shown in the top right corner.