Author: James Hartley

Blog Book Tour | “The Invisible Hand” (Act I of Shakespeare’s Moon series) by James Hartley The first sequence of a 5 act series re-spinning the elemental aesthetics of #Shakespeare into new stories of #YALit!

Posted Sunday, 25 March, 2018 by jorielov , , , , , , , , , 0 Comments

Book Review badge created by Jorie in Canva using Unsplash.com photography (Creative Commons Zero).

Acquired Book By: I started hosting for Rachel’s Random Resources at the end of [2017] booking several guest features for [2018] whilst noting I had a lovely opportunity to review a novel for one of the New Year’s tours. This blog tour marks my second with this touring company, as Rachel and I met through my chat #ChocLitSaturday which has since been renewed @SatBookChat! I look forward to spotlighting her authors, conversing with them and seeing how they respond to my guest topics. I may review a book here or there, but as most of her authors are in the UK / Europe market, I mostly was excited to cheer for their stories whilst awaiting to gather their stories stateside in print or audio.

I received a complimentary copy of “The Invisible Hand” direct from the author James Hartley in exchange for an honest review. I also received a complimentary copy of the audiobook “Heart of Winter” in exchange for an honest review not connected with this blog tour but for a secondary showcase forthcoming on Jorie Loves A Story. I added thoughts and reflections on behalf of the prequel “Heart of Winter” for my own edification and as it ran concurrent to my primary focus of featuring “The Invisible Hand” for this blog tour. For my own insight and understanding, I listened to the public domain version of ‘Macbeth’ via LibriVox (on their website) which features audiobooks of Classical Literature (see also Page). I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Why I was excited to be reading this series:

I couldn’t agree with you more – as atmospheric elemental components are what I personally feel attracted to myself whenever I am seeking a particularly compelling story to read set in the Gothic style or a certain sub-niche of Historical Fiction. Classical re-tellings, psychological suspense, Cosy Horror or a few other areas where writers can bend genre to their own will of imagination whilst evoking such a strong presence of how atmospheric under-threads of narrative tone can not only set a reader straight into the story’s setting itself but it can become evocative of the textural edges of how the writer envisioned his or her story to be read and seen.

Yes, I concur – one of the joys of reading Shakespeare is seeking the ‘questions’ he’s asking of us as we read. If we’re intuitive readers we’ll notice how he’s left a lot of doors open for interpreting his motives whilst he also paints strong clues towards where his own mind and heart were directing his own literary muse to tread. The joy for me (of course) is sorting it all out – whilst being caught up inside the ‘ways in which’ he chose to write his stories. He had a unique grasp of how a story could be constructed but it’s how he layered it all – how he fused the craft from what had come before and re-shaped it to be seen through the execution of plays and sonnets.

I think this is actually the beauty of what you’ve set out to achieve – an after canon focus on the stories themselves but without a direct adaptation of the ‘story’ as it once was envisioned but rather, to take those elements out of context and re-alight them in a new thread of enlightenment for younger readers who are drawn towards those elements by Shakespeare but perhaps, would rather have a taste of them in a different construction of story altogether. It is also a lovely bridge for the hesitations younger readers might feel in attempting to dig directly in Shakespeare. I know not all readers find challenges in literature as enjoyable as I once did myself or rather, as I continue to find as can we ever really say we’re done challenging our literary inclinations? I think not!

-quoted from the Guest Post I hosted on behalf of this blog tour to learn the *inspiration* behind this story & how Mr Hartley has found writerly joy in re-inventing how to fuse Shakespearean elements into a newly invented world for younger readers who might not have graduated into the original canon.

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Blog Book Tour | “The Invisible Hand” (Act I of Shakespeare’s Moon series) by James Hartley The first sequence of a 5 act series re-spinning the elemental aesthetics of #Shakespeare into new stories of #YALit!The Invisible Hand
Subtitle: Shakespeare's Moon : Act 1
by James Hartley
Source: Author via Rachel's Random Resources, Librivox | Public Domain Audiobooks
Narrator: James Hartley

The Invisible Hand is about a boy, Sam, who has just started life at a boarding school and finds himself able to travel back in time to medieval Scotland. There he meets a girl, Leana, who can travel to the future, and the two of them become wrapped up in events in Macbeth, the Shakespeare play, and in the daily life of the school.

The book is the first part of a series called Shakespeare´s Moon. Each book is set in the same boarding school but focuses on a different Shakespeare play.

Genres: After Canons, Children's Literature, Classical Literature, Young Adult Fiction



Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

Add to LibraryThing

Find on Book Browse

ISBN: 9781785354984

Also by this author: The Invisible Hand

Published by Lodestone Books

on 27th February, 2017

Format: Audiobook | mp3, Librivox | Public Domain Audiobooks, Trade Paperback

Pages: 168

Published By: Lodestone Books (@JHPChildren)

an imprint of John Hunt Publishing (@JHPFiction)

The series thus far along :

Hartley’s Shakespearean 5 act Quintet (after canon) series ‘Shakespeare’s Moon’

Heart of Winter | prequel to ‘The Invisible Hand’ (Synopsis) → previously an audiobook

The Invisible Hand | inspired by ‘MacBeth’

PlayFight | a short story within the series | Read via Wattpad

Cold Fire | inspired by ‘Romeo & Juliet’ (Synopsis) → #PubDay is 31.Aug.18

Converse via: #Shakespeare #Macbeth & #theclassicsclub

Find out why Mr Hartley claims to have been ‘betwitched’

by the muse behind ‘An Invisible Hand’ + ‘Heart of Winter’.

About James Hartley

James Hartley

James was born on the Wirral, England, in 1973 on a rainy Thursday. He shares his birthday with Bono, Sid Vicious and two even nastier pieces of work, John Wilkes Booth and Mark David Chapman.

His mother was a hairdresser with her own business and his father worked in a local refinery which pours filth into the sky over the Mersey to this day. They married young and James was their first child. He has two younger brothers and a still-expanding family in the area. As an Everton fan he suffered years of Liverpool success throughout the seventies and was thrilled when his father took a job in Singapore and the family moved lock, stock and two smoking barrels to Asia.

He spent five fine years growing up in the city state before returning to the rain, storms, comprehensive schools and desolate beauty of the Scottish east coast. Later years took he and his family to baking hot Muscat, in Oman, and a Syria that has since been bombed off the surface of the planet.

James studied journalism in London and later travelled through Ireland, France, Germany and India generally having a good time, before finally settling in Madrid, Spain, where he now lives with his wife and two children.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

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Posted Sunday, 25 March, 2018 by jorielov in After the Canon, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Tour Host, Bookish Discussions, Children's Literature, Classical Literature, England, Inspired By Author OR Book, Inspired by Stories, Literature for Boys, Rachel's Random Resources, Re-Told Tales, The Writers Life, Writing Style & Voice

Author Guest Post | Jorie shares her bookishly geeky personality whilst celebrating the Bard, MacBeth and giving a hearty glow of light on an after canon author (James Hartley) whose re-inventing how to read #Shakespeare!

Posted Thursday, 22 March, 2018 by jorielov , , , , , 0 Comments

Author Guest Post Banner created by Jorie in Canva.

Hallo, Hallo my dear hearted Classical Shakespearean bookish mates!

(yes, this is a s/o to my lovely #theclassicsclub geeks!)

Says the girl whose all but suffered an EPIC FAIL for her first journey into said Classics Club whilst still attempting to right the stars on her fate of being seriously the most under-read of all clubbers in the Classical stacks! I appear, on the surface of things – wickedly in LOVE with Classical Lit but in the bare bones of trying to *read!* Classical stories – I seem to have opted for the after canons & re-tellings moreso than the original canons – naughty, Jorie! Except, I will soon be making enroads towards fixing this as I have a happy *surprise!* to share with my dear hearted readers of Jorie Loves A Story.. you’ll have to keep a keen eye for my latest #BookishNotBookish post,… that’s all I can disclose at this time!

When it comes to the Bard, I fell hard for his style of Literature as a frustrated freshman (in h.s. you guys, let’s just get that out of the way!) – it was refreshingly brilliant. I was seeking harder lit at the time, having graduated out of my childhood authors & shifting forward straight into a swirling pot of stories from contemporaries such as Clancy (Jack Ryan – OM sweet ghouls, right?); Crichton (the bloke who left hardly a hair on me head from the terror of his thrillers! yet, inspired my LOVE for Science & all things Ian Malcolm! Let’s face it – between the Genetic codes & Chaos Theory I was swooning!) and Grisham (who crushed my soul every single time!) – I was ready for a cosmic shift in my literary choices.

Similar to my lifelong appreciation on behalf of *Jane Austen!* prior to reading her stories – I had a fever of excitement over William Shakespeare. Let’s face – the *language!* and mannerisms of his choices in words & wordplay is enough to convince my younger self his stories would one day touch my heart with fierce admiration. I wasn’t wrong either – except it wasn’t the traditional love affair for Romeo which swooned my heart – instead it was the politico intrigue inside Julius Caesar & the dramatic undertone of Macbeth.

Mind you, I *devoured!* Caesar’s story & I helped the seniors ace their final exams for the latter – without reading the whole play, I only had a single layout (two pages) of the text in which I examined the context & eloquently explained it. I just tapped into the soul of Macbeth – ever since then, I’ve kept the play at an arm’s length. Mostly as whenever you feel so deeply connected to a story or a character – do you dare re-visit it?! I’ve had mixed feelings about this as I’ve previously re-examined stories from the past,..

I leapt into this blog tour before I fully examined the construction of the series Mr Hartley was building because I was wicked impressed by the components he was pulling together – so much so, this was my first reaction after finding out about the tour itself:

I pray I’m in time to join this blog tour — two words: Shakespeare & Macbeth overtures are right up my alley plus this is meant to be an introduction to the Bard for younger readers?! Ooh, my yes! It mentioned there are paperbacks to review on this tour, does that extend to the States?! If so, I’d love to join for a *review!* and a guest feature – I just finished reading “The Seven Sisters” – I sat down at six thirty last night and it’s now nearly 9am…

I love how he’s bringing each play to life through a boarding school setting,…

Shortly hereafter, my paths crossed with Mr Hartley in the twitterverse, however, that particular story will be saved for a latter date! As this post is meant to give him the chance to explain what inspired him to re-direct his own museful creativity into the collective works of the Bard we all know, trust & love as much as readers have for half a millennia. I simply wanted to give a bit of a back-story into how I came to *love!* the Bard myself and why this particular tour held such a strong appeal for becoming a part of as a book blogger.

Find a cosy comfortable place to alight, sip your favourite cuppa tea or java & ENJOY this essay – about a writer who found inspiration within the text & symbolism of MACBETTH.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Author Guest Post | Jorie shares her bookishly geeky personality whilst celebrating the Bard, MacBeth and giving a hearty glow of light on an after canon author (James Hartley) whose re-inventing how to read #Shakespeare!The Invisible Hand
Subtitle: Shakespeare's Moon : Act 1
by James Hartley

The Invisible Hand is about a boy, Sam, who has just started life at a boarding school and finds himself able to travel back in time to medieval Scotland. There he meets a girl, Leana, who can travel to the future, and the two of them become wrapped up in events in Macbeth, the Shakespeare play, and in the daily life of the school.

The book is the first part of a series called Shakespeare´s Moon. Each book is set in the same boarding school but focuses on a different Shakespeare play.

Genres: After Canons, Children's Literature, Classical Literature, Young Adult Fiction



Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

Add to LibraryThing

Find on Book Browse

ISBN: 9781785354984

Also by this author: The Invisible Hand

on 27th February, 2017

Published By: Lodestone Books (@JHPChildren)

an imprint of John Hunt Publishing (@JHPFiction)

The series thus far along :

Hartley’s Shakespearean 5 act Quintet (after canon) series ‘Shakespeare’s Moon’

Heart of Winter | prequel to ‘The Invisible Hand’ (Synopsis) → previously an audiobook

The Invisible Hand | inspired by ‘MacBeth’

PlayFight | a short story within the series | Read via Wattpad

Cold Fire | inspired by ‘Romeo & Juliet’ (Synopsis) → #PubDay is 31.Aug.18

Converse via: #Shakespeare #Macbeth & #theclassicsclub

Find out why Mr Hartley claims to have been ‘betwitched’

by the muse behind ‘An Invisible Hand’ + ‘Heart of Winter’.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Topic I Proposed to Mr Hartley:

How did you develop your hauntingly ethereal Gothic style of re-interpreting Shakespearean plays? As your stories hone in on the elemental and atmospheric aspects of psychological suspense – what were your inspirations for writing these kinds of after canon sequels on behalf of the Bard? Likewise, is there one of his stories which stands out as being your ultimate favourite?

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Posted Thursday, 22 March, 2018 by jorielov in After the Canon, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Tour Host, Bookish Discussions, Children's Literature, Classical Literature, England, Inspired By Author OR Book, Inspired by Stories, Literature for Boys, Rachel's Random Resources, Re-Told Tales, Reader Submitted Guest Post (Topic) for Author, The Writers Life, Writing Style & Voice