Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!
I have a special conversation to share with you today – as I only just learnt of this myself – where quite a few of the lovely Cedar Fort authors I have enjoyed reading have come together to offer a lovely series of bookaways for readers who are wanting to *boost* their awareness to others on behalf of the people who are creating inspiring content on their social media channels!
Read More INFO here!
I love finding challenges and contests like these as they make the bookish world a bit smaller with the kindnesses which start to encircle through it’s community. What is clever about this particular event is how it’s tied to the principle of shining a light on the JOY someone else has given you to read whilst endeavouring to surprise them and yourself with a bit of BOOKISH blissitude in return! I like how the whole event is surrounded by the ‘good things’ people project through social media, how something we’ve read on our social channels has lifted our spirits and thereby, should be re-promoted to be seen by others who might not have had the chance to see it first!
These are the kinds of moments which should be celebrated as they speak to the heart of how we’re all connected. The book world is a close-knit community and one which keeps expanding per each new reader who finds STORIES to be not only thought-provoking but stimulating through the imaginations of the writers who give of themselves to give us a story which electrifies our own minds by the beauty of their words!
I readily agreed to be an ‘event cheerleader for the authors’ – as I know a lot of you enjoy reading my reviews but perhaps, haven’t had the pleasure of reading the stories? This is a lovely chance to not only tip your hat towards the goal of reading something I’ve blogged about which interested you but give the gift of a book to someone you know! Seems like a lot of lovely random acts of kindnesses are going to be sprinkled throughout the coming weeks of December!
Before I talk about the stories I recognised as being beloved reads or authors I am reading next in my reading queue of stories this December – I wanted to have a conversation with Ms Bateman, and let her explain to you how this event unfolded! Be sure to grab your favourite cuppa & settle in for a spell!
The Time Key
When Stanley saves a man, he’s given a mysterious device that allows him to travel through time. But he soon learns that changing his past doesn’t necessary lead to a better future. Traveling over 100 years into the future may be the only way Stanley can change his fate and save his family.
Places to find the book:
ISBN: 9781462118564
on 14th June, 2016
Initially, how did you pull the authors together for this event which celebrates the random joys found online through social media channels? Of where everyone at any point in time is tweeting, posting or sharing something which lifts the spirit of another and/or gives a burst of bookish joy to others?
I find this fantastic – how one door opened to reveal a new door towards friendships with writers who not only understand your passion but want to celebrate the good you all can do together to impact the lives of others. Especially for readers who might not expect to get a random surprise or to have an event which highlights all the goodness in the world rather than focusing on the negatives which start to overtake not only our social media channels but our minds. Sharing Light and Love is always a good thing!! I definitely support this!
How did you guys first get together and unite to not only promote kindness and random joy, but to share your journey as authors who are writing encouraging works of fiction?
Bateman responds: I think being a writer can be a very lonely occupation, and online groups like Storymakers gave me the opportunity to connect with other like-minded people. We really seem to come together and support each other, which is what I found while putting together this event. It’s been a wonderful experience!
Interestingly, I never felt it was a lonely profession – mostly, as I am a social reader and social writer – I like to seek out others who share my bookish interests, whilst I am surrounded by a family who loves to encourage my writerly pursuits. In this way, I know I am blessed – however, to the point of it being lonely as a writer? Hmm. I oft have heard of this by others, but for me, when I sit down to focus on my stories, I am in my own element of creativity. I love following where my muse takes me and exploring the stories and characters I am creating. To me, that’s not a lonely experience but a rather wonderful one – as all creatives create using different tools – writing to me has always felt like an exploration of another medium of art. I love being an artist in the traditional sense, but writing uses a palette of words and thereby, we’re never quite alone, as we’re fusing our heart with our imagination and striving to create something tangible others can relate too.
I do agree – on one point, online platforms are giving writers across the board better access to each other – I do get a jolt of joy interacting with writers on Twitter. I have found it’s a platform I especially am keen on using because it makes real-time conversations accessible. You can pull together a convo and bring others in on the conversation at the same time. It’s a beautiful thing, really. I know you and the other writers prefer Facebook – which is great, we all need to find what works best for us, but I simply meant, in this regard, I do agree. Making connections is important as is sharing our conjoined passion for the written word.
What do you think is the best part about being a published author finding other authors who share your beliefs and want to contribute something positive back into the world?
Bateman responds: Finding other authors who love reaching out and contributing somehow to our communities is amazing and humbling. There is so much negativity in the world, and what a lot of us find is that we can share a little bit of light with others through our talents. Finding those who have that same goal is, to me, the best part of being an author.
This is what struck me as the best reason to have this kind of an event – to find a way to curb the negative bits which start to choke through the joys we are celebrating – there are a lot of things to be thankful for in our lives and it’s those things we should remember to share with others.
What was your key inspiration for telling the story within “The Time Key”?
Bateman responds: I’ve been writing for a long time, but it never occurred to me that I should try to write a novel until one day my husband said to me, jokingly, that if something ever happened to me and our daughter, he would become a miserable drunk! It was meant as joke, but then of course my mind began working, and soon after I had a main character and a simple plot for a new story. It’s a sad story, but I had to explore a hard situation and find a meaningful resolution, mingled with fantasy of course. That’s how The Time Key came to life.
Bateman responds: I knew that I wanted to begin the story in the 1800’s, and for the most part I based my research on novels written at the time, but it was difficult to really imagine the events because I had little knowledge of the time period. While researching, I realized that the story had to be personal, and what better way to show that than for someone to want to change an event of their past and actually succeed! I explored that concept by putting myself in my character’s shoes, and I hope that shows through in the story.
I think this is a great point of entry into identifying with your character – of trying to understand their motivations by examining your own! It’s the best way to theorise about time travelling too – outside of actually attempting to ‘travel back’ into time and seeing how it would feel to re-align a timeline outside of the one that is known. It had to feel incredible though – on a personal level, if you could have done what your character did?
Did you ask yourself about how through time travelling, if we were to theoretically alter the past, there could be consequences in the future? If so, how did you want your character to delve into this heady subject of cause and effect on such a high level of influence as it would affect the entire time-line of the world?
Bateman responds: Cause and effect has been a prevalent theme in time-travel stories from the beginning, and it has been touched on in so many ways that I wanted to show something a little bit different. My character is a novice and driven by his own interest, so to him whatever the effect his changing the past would be didn’t matter to him. I had to make the changes drastic to make him stop and think about what he was actually doing. I wanted him to learn from his own mistakes and discover for himself the right thing to do. How he gets there is a little different (multiple time-lines, past and future selves interacting with each other, among other difficulties…).
Now, that is something I could appreciate! Finding a new angle of developing the conscience regret about the actions you take to erase portions of the past! I can see how complicated this would become though – as that reminds me of the ‘Back to the Future’ film where the variant timelines started to interfere with Doc & Marty’s actual lives? Where the differences were nearly too great to circumvent? I also like how you gave him plausible reasons to reconsider himself and to think of something ‘outside’ his own desired goals. It’s the strength of growth which gives the most hope for all.
Which Speculative and Science Fiction authors did you consider your inspiration to become a writer of Speculative realms yourself? Was it the characters, world-building or the breadth of what was plausible which first grabbed your attention about the genre?
Bateman responds: I’ve always been inspired by H. G. Wells. Through him I discovered Science Fiction and wanted explore the themes the way he did in his novels. Whom I absolutely admire and was the main inspiration for The Time Key is Felix J. Palma, a Spanish author. His Victorian trilogy is one of my favorites and the way he treats time-lines and multi-verses, and real-life characters from his story, really inspired me to write my own time-travel story.
I’m going to have to look up Mr Palma – as I love the complexities of telling stories like these – of seeing how writers approach them but also, how you can pull out such a complicated thread of narrative through what the characters go through themselves whilst the timelines also, seem to shift and re-align during the characters’ journeys. Time can bend but sometimes what isn’t seen is how time can re-alter itself through the different pieces of our actions – whether small or large, they all go to effect the continuum.
In regards to time and era, where do you think you’d personally like to visit and why?<
Bateman responds: I love that question! I’ve always been fascinated by the Roaring 20’s. It was a time where society and norms were changing, women were beginning to discover themselves and their potential. As an artists I am drawn by the architecture and artists of the time and would have loved to witness it all with my own eyes.
We share a mutual affinity for the 1920s! I truly would love to have seen the fashions start to overtake the world, too. There was something quite special about this generation – not just for women, but for men, for inventors, artists and writers – there was a creative synergy alive during the 20s!
Will you be collectively sharing links to the submissions of the entries which are live to the public, so others can see whose been leaving behind inspiring notes in social media? Or, are you picking your top favourites per day and sharing those instead?
Bateman responds: My team and I will be monitoring the hashtag #LightTheWorldWithBooks mainly on Facebook and will be posting our favorites on our page . If anyone would like to join the campaign, they just need to follow the rules here and start nominating friends on whichever platform they prefer. For us to know about it, you can simply post a screen shot, tag a friend, or post your name on our page with the person you tagged. That way it’s visible to us and we’ll add you to our giveaway list for the day.
What are you hoping will be the outcome of the event itself? Of having everyone seek out those who inspire them and finding a way to give them a random act of kindness in return?
Bateman responds: My original goal was to give out books. We are all so busy during the holidays that sometimes it’s nice to get something for yourself, especially if it’s free! With the help of some wonderful authors, my simple goal became something bigger and I hope that this Christmas season people will be kinder to others, and even find ways to serve. Why not show that you love those around you and win books as you’re doing it?
I haven’t begun reading ‘The Time Key’ yet, however, I do have a connection to the novel – as when I first learnt about the story [December, 2016] I immediately placed a purchase request for the book with my local library, of whom, happily surprised me by purchasing the book in [January, 2017].
However, due to everything which transpired last November, I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to attempt reading the story – which is why, I can happily say it was checked out quite frequently and even, I, in the end had to wait for it to move between readers to find it’s way back to me to be read! As #RRSciFiMonth’s 5th Year is concluding right now (as I’m still composing my thoughts on a review, a chat recap & the event’s wrap-up) – I have decided to read this novel during my ‘second’ binge period of reading Speculative Fiction which is during December & January! A tradition sparked by an annual book blogosphere event called: #SciFiExperience!
I have a personal interest in time travelling (although, I oft claim I am a time traveller, as I appreciate dipping into the historic past through my literary adventures in Historical Fiction & all it’s lovely sub-genres of focus!) – not only from the elements of science which are at the root of how ‘time travelling’ is presented per each writer’s vision of it, but due to the nature of the sociological and psychological impacts on both the traveller and the persons of whom they are encountering. This is one reason why I LOVE #DoctorWho and why I felt #Timeless was such a promising series.
Book of the Day: 2nd December | A Second SEASON
I instantly wanted to read this novel, not only due to the era in which it was set being a personal favourite of mine (the Regency era) but there was something about focusing on a girl’s attempt at the London Season which made it especially a keen plot to pursue! Mostly, as all the girls’ who came ‘out’ during the Season were under such extreme pressure by their Mums! Goodness! It is half a wonder how any of them had the fortitude to find true happiness after such an intensive display of a struggle in power and control for one’s affairs!
A Second Season was a beloved read of mine – as I had this to share on it’s behalf:
One thing that stood out is the care and effort Chapman put into her Regency Romance to get the feeling of the Regency and to articulate the language of the era too. Sadly, I still feel a bit spoilt on seeing the words in British English for Regencies, but aside from this personal quirk and preference, I give top cheers to authors like Chapman who give me such a hugged close viewing of the Regency, I stopped noticing the subtle differences in how the words appeared on the page! Also, to note, I have always seen the upper class mentioned as the ton where the world is in italics and was surprised this was one word that was not kept in-line with other Historicals?
Curiously, it felt quite authentic because Chapman wrote such an eloquent story. The little nuances you seek from a Regency are here, re-pleat with the mannerisms and the fanciful way girls love to shoppe for new ribbons, gowns and shoes! If I had to suspect, this story is a celebration of the author’s love of Jane Austen! In this, I applaud what she’s written, as I too, am a Janeite and I love her instincts to tell story as she did as it felt nearly like an after canon sequel! So much of the story’s tone and continuity of events felt reminiscent of Pride and Prejudice; for which I was delighted to no end, as this is quite happily my favourite Austen novel thus far in my readings and the one story I love re-reading in variations!
-quoted from my review of The Second Season
Book of the Day: 8th December
The HAUNTING of Springett Hall
The Haunting of Springett Hall truly was a remarkable read, even if I found a few bits towards the ending to be a bit difficult to traverse through – what I found so interesting about how Ms Wheeler approached this story is combining Historical Fiction with Cosy Horror! As you will see from what I shared on it’s behalf:
I admit, when I first soaked inside #HauntingOfSpringettHall, I was not certain if this was going to be told in the tradition of Victorian ghost stories (similar to Wharton’s approach) or if she might entertain a bit of darker elements to round out the cosier bits with the horrific. She started to encroach on the psychological mind traps of her characters to entertain notions of both sanity and insanity based on what they felt they were observing or taking as solemn truth during the bits of time where no one was the wiser about the truer scope of this suspense etching around Springett Hall.
Whilst Lucy pairs together with Ketley, we start to uncover the darker more sinister underbits to this story; as lurking out of sight is this taut and dearly dark notion of something quite nefariously wicked is shaping together for everyone attached at Springett Hall. I felt Wheeler championed the dark horror of the unknown with the finesse of attracting readers such as I who appreciate horror on a lighter level of spooktacular dimension! The worst bits of this kind of horror is what you can imagine being true rather than knowing what is true; this is the key reason I love Hitchcock so dearly much, because it’s not what is shockingly visual in front of you but rather, how your interpreting the ‘other bits’ just out of sight.
The creature she created for Springett Hall was definitely rooted in legend and lore with it’s own unique twist to be connected to this story in particular because Wheeler grounded it’s attributes to be based on the character it inhabits. I enjoyed seeing her take this spin on the creature as it gave a segue for discussion after the novel is read, especially by young adults and other readers who might want to broach this with a book club. On that second note, there is a heap to discuss about morality, pride and obsession, the dark arts, and the balance between choosing what is right and what will preserve your own will to survive. The undercurrent of the novel truly roots out strong messages about humanity and one man’s ill pursuit for immortality.
-quoted from my review of The Haunting of Springett Hall
Book of the Day: 9th December | BEYOND
This is also a story I am in the process of reading – when I first learnt of this novel, I felt instantly it was one I wanted to read. I’ve been eagerly awaiting my time with the story, even planning to host an interview with the co-authors, as there was something quite extraordinary about the plot and the purposefulness within the heart of this novel. I look forward to discussing more about this as I read the story this December, perhaps, even in time for it’s day of ‘focus’ in this bookaway celebration of the spirit of kindness, gratitude and the soul-lifting affirmations everyone needs in their lives.
Book of the Day: 11th December | Right NEXT to Me
This is my second reading of a Ms Ward novel, and what I like the most about how she approaches the context of her stories is how well she is attached to the journey of growth her characters are embarking on! She paints a realism of their age quite well and you definitely can see how their age and where they are on their life’s path can affect how they understand both themselves and their world.
Ms Ward drops you so wholly true into the shoes of a graduating senior in high school anyone whose walked this part of their life or is about to walk through it – can find something to relate too. Even if high school wasn’t a succession of angst ridden days (such as they were for me) you can find things about your high school years which ring true – such as how your friendships knit close together and how sometimes, you drift apart from those you care about even without realising you started to separate from them emotionally. The novel is paced well to give you a strong impression of Sydney’s back-story – of how she went from living in a two parent, three sibling (she has a brother and sister) home to a divorced single Mum with siblings who were more or less not as willing to embrace the radical changes in their lives. Her younger sister Whitney is described well as being the daughter who took the brunt of the divorce whereas Sydney kept her truer feelings closeted and simply carried onward.
Ms Ward excels at tapping into those formative years where your on the cusp of understanding who you are and who you are most likely to want to keep in your life long term. (if you had found someone when you were younger; not everyone does) She also finds a way to bring school life back into the forefront of your memory – I admit, there were parts of the story I had to re-read because some moments of Sydney’s life brought back my own memories of high school! Laughs. This is another nod of credit to Ms Ward for being able to pull back the layers of school life and finding traction to give you a leeway into Sydney’s life to where your own school years can be objectively seen through her own journey.
-quoted from my review of Right Next to Me
I have a preference for reading after canons & re-tellings on behalf of Classical Literature, Mythological Legends & Stories, Fairy Tales and other variants of where an author can wield their pen to alight us through a different portal of entry to a well-known and versed original canon. I even, include the Biological Historical Fiction stories within this category of interest as writers are genuinely re-envisioning how a living person once lived and thereby, giving us a new glimpse into their personal world. Therefore, it was not a surprise to me I was attracted to this story-line inasmuch as what ‘did’ surprise me – I have a new appreciation for Greek Mythos! A credit to the author – of whom, is happily turning this into a lovely series!
There are so many lovely layers to this story as well – from how Cora goes from being groomed by her mother and let out on a short leash of freedom to where she’s found new freedom in being on the open highway travelling to parts unknown. There is a thrilling sense of danger too lurking out in the corners of the novel, where this took on the elements of a Historical Romantic Suspense or Thriller – there are just enough dramatic entries of adventure to hold you inside the narrative but it’s how the characters are set in motion – to both breathe their own lives into the foreground but also, retreat and find remorse as well. Even the back-story on Adam is layered – as he’s suffering from PTSD and has issues with re-emerging back into civilised society after having fought so hard during the war – he’s plagued by both his past as a soldier and his family’s past of being a disservice to society in general.
I am definitely wicked excited about what is coming next by Ms Greenwood! She’s definitely a Historical author to keep your eyes peeled for new releases if you like tucking into stories which are equally dramatic as they are heart-warming and tender in how they are resolved. She has strong heroines and heroes within her tales – but similar to Ms Austen, she doesn’t interweave a plot you can easily see working out in the end – she makes her characters work for their happiness – of giving them ample time to grow and to reconsider themselves. You definitely will want to take the journey with them and with Ms Greenwood – as she endevaours to craft new stories which we will find an equal attachment inside to read!
-quoted from my review of The Darkest Summer
Similar to blog tours where I feature book reviews, as I choose to highlight an author via a Guest Post, Q&A, Interview, etc., I do not receive compensation for featuring supplemental content on my blog. I provide the questions for interviews and topics for the guest posts; wherein I receive the responses back from publicists and authors directly. I am naturally curious about the ‘behind-the-scenes’ of stories and the writers who pen them; I have a heap of joy bringing this content to my readers.
{SOURCES: Cover art of “The Second Season”, “The Haunting of Springett Hall”, “Right Next To Me” and “The Darkest Summer” were provided by Cedar Fort Publishing & Media and are used with permission. Cover art of “The Time Key”, book synopsis, author biography, author photograph of Melanie Bateman as well as the graphic for #LightUpTheWorldWithBooks were all provided by Melanie Bateman and are used with permission. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Tweets embedded by codes provided by Twitter. Blog graphics created by Jorie via Canva: Conversations with the Bookish and the Comment Box Banner.}
Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2017.
Comments via Twitter:
#LightTheWorldWithBooks | an Interview with #ScienceFiction author, Melanie Bateman, whose… https://t.co/Y4pzDmeQkn pic.twitter.com/tlsBQ5otgv
— Jorie Story 📖🎧 (@joriestory) December 1, 2017
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