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Who owns the Great Mosque of Córdoba?

9/2/2021

Even if you have never visited the beautiful mosque in the centre of Córdoba’s old city, you will have most probably have heard of it. While I was writing the al-Andalus trilogy, which was set in 10th century Córdoba, I visited it many times. It is a truly magnificent place.

The Mezquita’s fame is widespread, and its history stretches back to the time of the Moors in the 8th century. Work was begun in 785 AD, on the banks of the Guadalquivir, under the orders of Emir Abd al Rahman I. He had bought the site from the Christian community for 100,000 dinars. As was customary in the ancient world, he had chosen a site that already had religious connections; it had been a Visigoth hermitage, before that it was the site of a Roman temple, and from the middle of the 8th century, Christians and Muslims had both worshipped there.

Plan of the Mosque showing when each part was built.

The Moors were a major presence in Spain for over 700 years, but this is the only mosque surviving from that period of history. It is also one of the largest—180m x 130m—having been extended by Abd al Rahman II in 833 AD to cope with an ever expanding population. His successor, Abd al Rahman III was too busy uniting the kingdom and building his new city in Madinat al Zahra to spend money on the mosque in Córdoba--although he did build the orangery.

So it wasn’t until after his death, that his son, al Hakam II undertook another enlargement of the mosque in 926 AD. Then finally in 987 AD, al-Mansor, the de facto ruler of al-Andalus after the death of Abd al Hakam, almost doubled the size of the building. Yet, despite so many additions to this magnificent building over a long period of time, the architects managed to maintain its structural unity.

Plan showing the Christian alterations

Until that is, the conquest of Córdoba by Ferdinand in 1236, when the city was taken over by the Christians. In 1257 the Bishop of Córdoba decided to consecrate part of the mosque as a cathedral.

First-time visitors to the mosque are amazed to suddenly find themselves in a Christian cathedral. Sadly a lot of the additions to the mosque made by Abd al Rahman II and al-Mansur, were dismantled during the creation of the cathedral.

Further work was done to the cathedral in 1523 under the orders of the Bishop and without the consent of the Cathedral chapter. They tried to stop any further changes by threatening them with the death penalty if they did any more work without Royal assent. So the bishop appealed to King Charles I, who gave his consent.

According to rumour, when the king later visited the cathedral, he is reported to have said: ‘I did not know what this was, otherwise I would not have allowed the old part to be changed; because you are doing what can be done elsewhere, whereas you have destroyed something that is unique in the world.’

That was almost five hundred years ago and yet still there is a dispute between the citizens of Córdoba and Church over the great Mosque. A law passed in 1946, during the Franco regime allowed the Catholic Church to acquire thousands of properties in its name. In 1998, the government of the day extended this right to cover places of worship, and the Church swallowed up hundreds of cemeteries, chapels and cathedrals. One estimate is of 4,500 properties. But the most controversial was in 2006, when the then Bishop of Córdoba registered the Mezquita as the property of the Catholic Church, and paid the sum of €30 to do so. It was an attempt by the bishopric to wipe out all traces of Córdoba’s Islamic past and their justification for doing this was that in 1236 Ferdinand III of Castile had decided that the site of the Mosque should be “consecrated and converted into a cathedral.”

But the citizens of Córdoba are not happy. The Mezquita, which was declared a World Heritage Site over thirty years ago, is one of the biggest tourist attractions in Spain. Despite formal complaints by angry citizens, the Spanish Heritage office ruled in 2014 that the Church had done nothing wrong. Then a few years ago the Andalusian regional government commissioned a report on whether it could request the rights to the management of the property. I was unable to find a copy of the report but a summary of its conclusion states that a monument of such national significance cannot be owned by any individual or institution. This puts the Church’s position in jeopardy, but I couldn’t find anything to say that things had changed.

A number of organisations, such as the Navarre Heritage Defence Platform are leading the fight to overturn many of these unconstitutional registrations by the Church.

If anyone has any recent news about the ownership of the Mezquita, please let me know.

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THE OX OR THE CAMEL? Transport in Moorish Spain

9/1/2021

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If you have ever visited southern Spain and ventured into one of the numerous small white villages of Andalusia, you may have been surprised to suddenly come across a flight of steps where the road should be, or a sudden sharp right-angled turn. Maybe you were walking along and the road narrowed from three metres to one metre for no obvious reason, and you heave a sigh of relief that you parked your car at the entrance to the village. These roads were originally never constructed for wagons, but for pedestrians, both human and animal. The lack of wheeled transport in medieval Spain means that you can still find many towns and villages like that in Andalusia today.

When the Moors conquered Spain in the eighth century, they brought with them horses, mules and camels, to use both for haulage and to fight in battle. But they brought no wagons, nor any kind of wheeled transport. Why was that? It was not because people in the Middle East didn’t know about the wheel; they had used it for centuries, for making pottery, irrigating the land, and for haulage. During that time there were wagons and chariots in frequent use, but that was before the camel came along. Once that happened there was no contest between the wheeled oxcart and the camel.

Despite its slow pace, walking at roughly two and a half miles per hour, the camel could cover twenty miles a day for weeks on end without tiring. Even at that speed it was faster and more durable than the plodding ox, besides which the camel could carry between 140 and 230 kg on its back, as much if not more than the oxcart. The camel was also cheaper to maintain and easier to care for than the ox. So ultimately it came down to cash. The pack camel was more efficient and more economical than the slow, lumbering ox. It was also more suited to the dry desert pathways, but to start with, although it was widely used in the villages and nomadic areas of the desert, it wasn’t common in the cities. You may wonder why the medieval Muslim traders didn’t combine both and hitch the camel to a wagon. The simple answer to that was that they didn’t have a suitable harness in the Middle East at that time, not even to allow them to use a horse as a draught animal.

When a new camel saddle was developed, one which allowed the riders more manoeuvrability, nomads became able to fight more effectively and began to dominate the desert caravan trails, and seize control of the long-distance trade routes. Many of the subsequent Islamic conquests were financed by the profits from the camel caravan trade.

Gradually, over the years, the camel became more common in cities and farms; people gave up using their wagons and rented camels from the nomads when they needed transport for haulage. Eventually wheeled transport disappeared altogether and the wagon making industry collapsed in the Middle East and throughout its conquered territories, including Spain. However, as the camel became more popular amongst traders and merchants, they also became more expensive. If people couldn’t afford to buy a camel, or didn’t need to transport their goods over long distances, they would use donkeys and mules, just as they still continue to do in some of the Spanish villages, today.

In the same way as the camel was important to nomads and merchants, so the horse was important to the elite Moorish cavalry, and the quality of their horses was greatly prized. The Arabian horse is a distinct breed and one of the oldest in the world, having hardly changed in 4,500 years. It was bred in the desert, in the dry, hot climate of the Arabian peninsula, and because of its exposure to constant sunshine, had a black skin although its coat could be a variety of colours: bay, grey, chestnut, black or roan. These were the horses that the Moors brought with them to Spain; this versatile breed was perfect for the cavalry, being able to travel long distances in hot climates, requiring minimal food and water and with bones that were denser than other breeds and a short back, they could support a heavily armoured horseman with little problem. It was a high spirited animal, with a keen sense of alertness and a good turn of speed.

For centuries, Arab horses had lived closely with their nomadic owners, even sharing their owners’ tents. Because they were so highly prized, it was not surprising that many myths and legends were told about them. One such a legend relates that Mohammed wanted to test the courage and loyalty of his herd, so he set them loose to race towards an oasis, but before they reached the water, he called them back to him. Only five of the horses returned. These loyal animals were said to be the first Arabian horses and all subsequent ones were descended from them.

Whatever the truth of the legends, the Arabian horse is certainly one of the oldest domesticated breeds in existence, and the distinctive features of its head and its high tail carriage have been found carved on Egyptian artefacts from the 16th century BC.

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CHRISTMAS GREETINGS

1/12/2020

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Here we are in December; Christmas is almost upon us and COVID-19 restrictions are becoming a part of our daily life. For a large part of this year many people have been working from home – something that has its benefits and its drawbacks. True it must be nice not to have the hassle of rush hour traffic, or all the expenses that are associated with going to work, petrol, clothing, and lunch out. And of course, less cars on the road are better for the environment. It’s fun for a while to sit at the computer wearing your tracksuit bottoms and eating from your own kitchen, but the downside must be the lack of social contact, the bouncing of ideas back and forth between colleagues. Yes, I can hear you saying, but there's always Zoom. Without Zoom, FaceTime, WhatsApp and a host of other ways of contacting each other digitally, it's true that life would indeed be very bleak.

But the downside of working from home is the long hours spent at the computer. I have friends who are working harder and longer than ever before; they don't have any downtime, especially if they work for a multinational company. Video meetings are not uncommon on a Sunday evening, nor is a working day that stretches long into the night. They are expected to be contactable 24/7.

Christmas lights in Málaga 2020

When I first came to Spain, over twenty years ago, I was surprised and pleased by the friendliness of the people. Every person you passed when walking down the street would greet you with a “Buenos días” and a smile or a nod. I soon got into the habit of replying. It was the same if you were in the waiting room of the local doctor, or going into the bank. Your presence was acknowledged in a friendly and positive way. But people’s behaviour has changed.
Now, when I go for my morning walk along the promenade I have to wear a mask, as does everyone else, and it is as if I’m not really there. Nobody speaks, nobody even looks at me. The mask has made me invisible. Occasionally I will pass one of my neighbours and they will stop and speak. And then what a lot better I feel. Before the pandemic, I hadn’t realised just how much those casual greetings could lift your spirits. I hope that when this is over and we all return to normality, that people won’t have forgotten how to greet each other as they used to do.

Happy Christmas to all my readers. Here’s hoping you all get to spend it with the people you love and that 2021 brings us all good health and prosperity.

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How one book turned into six

24/11/2020

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Madinat al Zahra

I first became interested in Moorish history after visiting Madinat al Zahra, a ruined city outside Córdoba, in 2000. And I was inspired to write the story of a family of artisans who were involved in the construction and decoration of that new city. It took me a year to research and write The Shining City, and when it was finished I knew that there were other wonderful stories to tell about that period. So one book became three. My original plan was to write about a different period in Spanish history next, but there was still a lot to tell about the time when the Moors lived in Spain.

At the end of book three Córdoba had been sacked by Berber armies, the Golden Age was over, and a once united country had split into numerous small states, called taifas. I looked at the history of the period (early 11th century), and thought it was impossible to make a coherent story from it; the rulers changed with such regularity, some only reigning a few months, others a couple of years. It was a tumultuous time for the once peaceful land of al-Andalus.

Then one day, as I was reading about the comings and going’s of the numerous rulers, I came across the makings of a new trilogy:
A Caliph who should have ruled from Córdoba, but decided to establish the taifa of Málaga instead.
His sons sent into exile by the Caliph’s uncle, who seizes the throne on his brother’s death.
A ruler who threw his own brother into jail and murdered his brother-in-law, and a wife who murdered her husband to avenge her brother’s death.
Besides the various internecine conflicts, there were taifas such as Seville who were growing larger and stronger, year by year, by conquering their Muslim neighbours.
And then there were the Christian princes who had their eyes on the Muslim gold. It was a time of intrigue, murder and a lust for power. It had the perfect ingredients for a historical novel.

Alcazaba, Málaga

So I turned once again to my family of artisans who escaped from Córdoba just before the city fell.
When The City of Dreams trilogy opens, twenty-two years have passed, some of the family have died, others have grown, married and have children of their own. And it is these family members who moved to Málaga to start a new life. They expect peace and prosperity, but almost immediately Makoud, who is now an apothecary, finds himself involved in the suspicious death of the Caliph.

The three books in The City of Dreams trilogy are The Apothecary, The Pirate and The Prisoner, all set in Málaga, a prosperous and thriving port on the Mediterranean sea. That in itself meant I had to widen my research to pirates, shipbuilding and other sea related topics that hadn’t been necessary for the previous books set in Córdoba.

The new series is available in paperback, on Kindle and as audiobooks. It is also being translated into Spanish and Portuguese.

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AUTHORS' CORNER REVISITED: Ann Victoria Roberts

18/7/2020

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Six years ago I ran a blog called Authors’ Corner and interviewed a number of independent authors. I thought it would be fun to see how things had gone for them in the last six years and whether they were still writing. Today we're speaking to Ann Victoria Roberts
Good morning Ann. Welcome to Author’s Corner Revisited. It’s more than six years since I interviewed you about your writing. So thank you for agreeing to come along and tell us how things have progressed in that period.
My first question is how has the lockdown of the recent months affected your writing? Has it inspired anything new or have you found it hard to get into your usual routine?

I must admit it was tough at first. My husband and I had just returned from two weeks’ holiday – we got back on 10th March, just as lockdown began. As a writer, used to working at home, it should have been almost normal, but a range of different anxieties made it difficult to focus. I couldn’t manage anything new, but I had a memoir on the back-burner…

Yes, Joan, it’s the one that I was working on six years ago, when you first interviewed me! It relates some of the history behind my first two novels – ‘Louisa Elliott’ and ‘Liam’s Story’ – and the series of coincidences and odd events which led to their writing and publication. But I was not entirely happy with it, so it was shelved in favour of a new novel. ‘One Night, Two Lives’ – but more of that later.

While we’ve been in lockdown, I’ve been cutting and re-shaping this memoir of the 1980s, and given it a new, tongue in cheek title – ‘Housewife Writes Bestseller!’ – a reflection of the tabloid headlines of 1989 when ‘Louisa Elliott’ was first published. The fact that a woman who was primarily a wife and mother could write a successful novel was clearly newsworthy – which shows how far women have come in the years since.
The story behind the two Elliott novels is a story in itself, but woven into this memoir is my life at the time as a sea-captain’s wife. While Peter was away on long voyages, I was writing and holding the fort at home. Opportunities to travel together did come up occasionally, and the children and I joined him whenever possible. Incredible though it seems, I received news that a top literary agent was keen to represent me, while I was on the bridge of an oil tanker entering the port of Bilbao!

You obviously enjoy writing about the 19th century, do you plan to write any more novels set in this period?

I have enjoyed it in the past, but at this stage of my life I’m not sure I have the drive and passion to embark upon another full-length historical novel. But who knows? So far, each book has been sparked by a moment of inspiration which has fired me and driven me forward. Between novels I’ve tended to revert to painting and travelling, which doesn’t sound very professional, I’m afraid. I stand back in admiration of authors who write excellent series – and somehow, keep going, year after year. I’ve often worked ridiculous hours to create and complete a novel, but afterwards I’m a limp rag!

From your books and your posts on Facebook I can see that two strong influences on your writing are the sea and the city of York. How have these affected your writing?

On board MV Nordic Sky 1981

Oddly enough, I’ve been reflecting on these very topics in the memoir. Thanks to my mother’s family, York was almost a second home to me while growing up, and it’s always been special. Even as a child I was reading books inherited from the 1890s – but the items that started me writing about the fictional Elliott family were a WW1 diary, and the photo of a handsome young soldier in Australian uniform. I’d discovered them amongst those old books in Grandma’s attic, but it was not until they came into my possession that I started digging into the family history. I’d planned to write a WW1 novel, but the facts were so curious, what began as backstory turned into ‘Louisa Elliott’, a big romantic saga set in 1890s York.

By contrast, ‘Liam’s Story’ is a novel which opens in York almost a century later, when re-discovered letters and photos take the reader into the lives of the Elliott family just before WW1. The story unfolds through links between two sets of lovers and two different eras, revealing a tragedy waiting to be resolved.

At the time of writing ‘Louisa Elliott’, my husband was Master of an oil tanker trading between Kuwait and Karachi at the height of the 1980s Gulf War. Although the sea-captain in ‘Liam’s Story’ is not directly based on Peter, the character of Stephen Elliott arose through my own observations of men at sea. ‘Liam’s Story’ enabled me to say something about everyday life aboard merchant ships – something most people know little about – and how it feels to be alone at home with only letters as contact.

Later, it was through Peter that I was shown the Southampton Dockmaster’s Log Book for 1912, logging all ships coming into and out of the port. Those for April, showed the Titanic departing for New York, but the earlier ones for March, revealed some previously unknown facts about her Master, Captain EJ Smith.

I have to say that I was never a Titanic buff, but when I saw the entries in that book, I knew at once that here was a story begging to be told. It was such a powerful conviction, it was as though I had Captain Smith at my shoulder, saying, ‘Go on – you know what the pressures are like, you can make sense of this…’ And so, two years and a lot of research later, ‘The Master’s Tale,’ based on the life of Captain Smith, was complete.

If you could choose one character from all your books, which is your favourite and why?

It has to be Liam Elliott. The character was based on my grandfather’s brother, Will – the man who wrote the WW1 diary. For years I’d been planning to write his story, but even as I began, it was overtaken by other voices. As I followed the clues, coincidence became commonplace. These odd events carried on throughout the writing of both Elliott novels, and only came to an end when ‘Liam’s Story’ was published in September 1991. Recently, however, there have been more – enough to prompt me into publishing the memoir!

When last we spoke you were planning a new historical novel. How did it turn out?

The one I was planning was shelved in favour of something more modern. An old friend and I were discussing the subject of illegitimacy in the Elliott novels, and the fact that social condemnation barely changed until the late 1960s. Only then – thanks to the advent of the Pill and legal abortion – did women gain the freedoms that are taken for granted today

Several conversations later – plus the highlighting of a lot of sexual assault cases around the same time – I began work on a new novel, ‘One Night, Two Lives’, published a year ago. It opens a window on the comparatively recent past, when pregnant but unmarried women were coerced into giving up their babies for adoption. Set mainly in Yorkshire, the story opens in 2004, when Suzie – a successful woman in her late fifties – is shocked by the unexpected arrival of former boyfriend James. First love and sudden betrayal – after what he did, why should she agree to search for their son? But he’s opened a door on the past, and the memories won’t go away.

Originally you were a traditionally published author but now that you self publish, have you found it more satisfying, and if so, in which ways?

Although I do miss the backing team of a traditional publisher – everything from professional editing, to book covers and marketing – I do not miss the intense pressure to produce the right kind of book to a deadline. I’m not predictable, and my novels refuse to follow a template, which makes them difficult for the traditional publisher to promote. So for me, doing it independently was, and still is, the best route.
Despite publishing very few novels, I have found a good market for the re-issued bestsellers with their timeless themes. Unless the books had been filmed – and there was much talk of filming ‘Moon Rising’ set in 1880s Whitby – the chances of my former publishers releasing new editions was unlikely. So readers both old and new are now enjoying them in their fresh formats.
Luckily, coincidence – again – put me in touch with the designer who did the original cover for ‘Louisa Elliott’, and we’ve worked together ever since. In fact it was his design for the new memoir that decided me on the title, ‘Housewife Writes Bestseller!’ And I have recently discovered that the ebook publishers I’ve used to distribute four of my previous novels – eBookPartners – have recently moved into print book publishing. So they will be handling the memoir.
I wish I could say my marketing skills have improved, but they haven’t. Despite my early success, I still suffer from the old northern ethic that says bragging is practically a hanging sin! But I do have a following of old fans, who enjoy the blogs and the rare new novel, such as ‘One Night, Two Lives’. I find that being asked to speak about my books in public is the best way to engage with people, and can generate a decent number of sales. And in a bid to find new readers, I’ve also donated copies of my books to local libraries.

Are you working on a new book at the moment? Can you tell us a little about it?

I’m thinking of writing a few more seafaring tales for my blog – if people like them, I may gather them together for another memoir. We’ll see how it goes. ‘Housewife Writes Bestseller’ will be published – independently, of course – before Christmas . But before I get back to my search for photos, I’d just like to say thank you, Joan, for inviting me back to your blog – it’s been a real pleasure.

Thank you so much for talking to us, Ann, and good luck with your next book.

If you want to learn more about Ann and her books you can find her on:

www.annvictoriaroberts.co.uk
https://www.facebook.com/AnnVictoriaRoberts#
and on her Amazon page

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AUTHORS' CORNER REVISITED: LUCINDA E CLARKE

18/7/2020

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Good morning Lucinda. Welcome to Author’s Corner Revisited. It’s more than six years since I interviewed you about your writing. So thank you for agreeing to come along and tell us how things have progressed in that period.

1. My first question is regarding your African series, and your main protagonist, Amy. How has Amy’s life developed? Did you leave her in Africa or has she moved to another country?

In total I’ve written 5 books in the series, and I’m not sure that I’ll write another as Africa is a melting pot right now. Amie remained in Togodo, my mythical African country and I guess she’ll stay there. She did say she was totally fed up with me and was quite happy if I left her alone. I’ll see how vicious I feel on an off day!

2. Will you be writing any more novels about Africa or have you moved to a different genre?

I have moved to a different genre – psychological thrillers. I’m well into my third book and the “A Year in the Life” series. By the time you publish this it should be with the editor and the beta readers. The first 2 books are set in UK and for the third, I’ve taken my main character Leah to the south of France – I thought she needed some sunshine, although she has complained it’s colder there in winter than she was expecting. I’m sad to say I’ve not been any kinder to her than I was to Amie, but that’s the chances you take when your author creates you, isn’t it?

3. This must be quite a change for you. Can you tell us what prompted you to write psychological thrillers?

It is and isn’t a change – in my writing career I wrote on subjects as diverse as ‘how they make potato crisps’, ‘climbing a ladder safely’, ‘hydroelectric dams’, ‘an interview with Julius Caesar’, and ‘how to split the atom’ – a range of subjects far too long to include here. Why did I do it? Psychological thrillers are popular at the moment and I was hoping to expand my reader base. They are modern day thrillers, not a zombie or werewolf in sight!

4. I know you used to live in Africa and this must have inspired a lot of your writing. Now that you live in Spain, has that encouraged you to write a book set in that country?

Joan, you are the expert here and I don’t know enough about the Spanish psyche to do them justice. Sam, one of the Amie back stories, has a disastrous holiday near Benidorm, but that is as far as I’ve got. I read a lot about Spain when we first moved here and Ghosts of Spain by Giles Tremlett, and that was amazing. I also enjoy your books too.

5. Also I notice that you have two books which have been co-authored. Is working with another author something you enjoy? Were there any difficulties?

I have contributed stories to I think 7 books to raise funds for charities, Macmillan Cancer, a cat sanctuary, clothing for business interviews and a few others I can’t remember now – I contributed stories written alone so I can’t say I have exactly co-authored.

6. Please tell us a little about your latest book. Can you give us a little preview of the plot?

The working title is “A Year in the Life of Deidre ???” and we meet up with Leah Brand again, together with Deidre we met in book 1 and her nightmare of a stepdaughter Belinda. This teenager has become a minor celebrity so I had to give her a bigger part – though it’s hard to write about a teen without all the swear words. The family past has not let go and once again their lives are threatened – an old link up to gangland London.

Thank you so much for talking to us, Lucinda. Your new book sounds very exciting. I wish you every luck with it. Maybe after this one you'll consider writing a psychological thriller set in Alicante.

As they say, thank you for having me Joan – I’ve always thought that is a silly phrase, but I do mean it.
I guess I would like to add that writing a full length book is a much bigger task than writing an hour long television script. If you had told me in 2013 when I published my first autobiography “Walking over Eggshells,” that 7 years later I would be scribbling book 15 I would never have believed you.
I get very cumbersome updating the info every time I bring a new one out. It’s the marketing that defeats me. I know how, but I simply hate it.
If anyone wants to connect and receive my newsletter each month – competitions, facts, other authors and news I’d love for you to join me. http://eepurl.com/c-GqWr
The sign up comes with a free book about the very Worst riding School in the World.

If you want to read more about Lucinda and her books
you can find her on :
Web page
Blog link
Twitter
Facebook

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AUTHORS' CORNER REVISITED: JG HARLOND

4/7/2020

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Six years ago I ran a blog called Authors’ Corner and interviewed a number of up and coming authors. I thought it would be fun to see how things had gone for them in the last six years and whether they were still writing.

Today we're speaking to the novelist and crime writer JG Harlond.

Good morning Jane. Welcome to Author’s Corner Revisited. It’s been a while since I interviewed you about your writing, so thank you for agreeing to come along and tell us how things have progressed in that period.

My first question is regarding your historical novels THE CHOSEN MAN and THE EMPRESS EMERALD, have you developed either of these excellent stories into a series, and if not, why not?

A: Thank you for inviting me back, Joan. A lot has happened in the past six years; five more books in my case, including a new version of The Empress Emerald for my American publisher.

The Chosen Man was the first in a trilogy. After his wickedness in Holland during the tulip scandal, Ludo da Portovenere goes on to make mischief in Goa and Lisbon in the spice trade, then becomes involved in a secret treaty between Charles Stuart and King Felipe of Spain in Madrid in A Turning Wind. The third story sees him selling part of the English Crown Jewels on behalf of Queen Henrietta Maria and finally coming to terms with his real identity, and finding a proper home and happiness. This almost closes Ludo’s story – all of which is based on real events – but he does have two feisty daughters who may very well take to the seas to create a little havoc of their own, so I shall be revisiting and researching the 17th century again. Next year perhaps.

Glad to hear that you haven't closed the door on that exciting period in history but I hear that you have turned your hand to writing crime fiction. This must be quite a change for you. Can you tell us what prompted you to do it?

A: I’ve been involved in crime from the beginning, really. It started with The Empress Emerald. If you remember, the cover tag line is ‘Stolen: a child, an identity, and a priceless jewel’. The Chosen Man Trilogy includes all manner of crimes as well; these fall squarely into the historical crime category. My Bob Robbins Home Front Mysteries Local Resistance and Private Lives are more along the lines of the ‘traditional British crime’ and ‘detective novels’ – in historical settings. Local Resistance is set in Cornwall and involves smuggling, spying and the little-known British Resistance movement that was known to some as ‘Churchill’s Secret Army’. Private Lives is a murder mystery set in North Devon during the preparations for D Day.

During the last six years, has being an independent author become easier and if so, in which ways?

A: Up to this year I have been a traditionally published author, but I am becoming an ‘indie’ now with the Bob Robbins Home Front Mystery series – which is more specifically British in content and humour. Writing and getting books published whichever route you take or prefer, is never easy, but so far, so good. I enjoy seeing my ‘pages read’ count on Amazon each day.

If you could choose one character from all your books, who is your favourite and why?

A: That’s difficult. I’m very fond of Ludo, largely because he says and does things I would never dare to. But Ludo can’t be trusted – until Book 3 anyway. I also have a soft spot for Bob Robbins: we share the same ironic, dry humour – which gets us both into trouble now and again.

Please tell us a little about your latest book.

A: Private Lives opens on the North Devon coast in 1942. Detective Sergeant Bob Robbins, who has been called out of retirement for the duration, is enjoying a few days’ holiday when he becomes involved in a shooting incident on a derelict farm. An elderly farmer lies injured, and then disappears. A young man is found shot in the chest in the barn. Bob reports the incident to the local police force in Bideford, but they are so over-stretched with extra duties he finds himself in charge of the case. Knowing he can’t manage on his own, Bob requests the help of the young police recruit Laurie Oliver, who helped him out in Porthferris (in Local Resistance). They take rooms at Peony Villas, an unusual sort of guest house run by an ex-West End diva, where there is a troupe of London actors in residence, and where Bob finds himself involved in yet another peculiar mystery.
I grew up in Bideford and know the area well, but I tweaked geography and place names a little to avoid embarrassing or annoying locals. This novel was fun to write, but I confess it was also the hardest to date. Balancing the sinister content with the shenanigans of the thespians wasn’t as easy as it might appear.

Thank you for taking the time to talk to us, Jane and good luck with the new book. Looking forward to reading it. If you want to find out more about Jane and her books you can find her on her web page.

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AUTHORS' CORNER REVISITED: Keith Dixon

17/6/2020

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Six years ago I ran a blog called Authors’ Corner and interviewed a number of up and coming independent authors. I thought it would be fun to see how things had gone for them in the last six years and whether they were still writing.

Today we're speaking to crime writer Keith Dixon.

Good morning Keith. Welcome to Author’s Corner Revisited. It’s been a while since I interviewed you about your writing, so thank you for agreeing to come along and tell us how things have progressed in that period.

Great to be back! Thanks for having me.

1. My first question is regarding your series of crime books featuring the investigator Sam Dyke. It is obviously very popular amongst readers of crime fiction. How many books have you written now? And how do you come up with new plots for the character?

I’m in the process of planning the 10th full-length Sam Dyke novel and there’s a short story as well. It’s a mystery to me how this has happened! The plots usually begin from a single idea – usually something I’ve read about. It lodges like a piece of grit in an oyster – or a stone in a horse’s hoof! – and has to be worked free, elaborated on, then planned out to make a viable story. Almost all the books can be traced back to a single idea that I let cook in my subconscious until some characters began to coalesce around the idea … and from out of that comes a sequence of events that I can turn into a plot. This is a fun time in the whole process, when you let your imagination run wild … but it can be stressful if nothing seems to emerge for a while. You have to trust that your subconscious is working on it even when you’re not concentrating. Luckily, it always comes up with something.

2. I believe you have been writing a new series. Can you tell us something about that? How does it differ from the Sam Dyke series?

Yes, I have another series featuring an ex-police sharpshooter called Paul Storey. While the Sam Dyke novels are based largely in the North West of England – because that’s where I lived when I started them – the Storey novels are set in and around Coventry, which is where I was brought up. The Sam Dyke novels with one exception are told in the first-person – because I wanted to mimic the classic detective noir style of Chandler and Ross Macdonald – while the Storey novels are told in the third person. Both styles, however, let me wander into the minds and personalities of the bad guys to let us see things from their perspective. This is one of my favourite bits of writing crime novels because you can really let rip on a character! I should add that my last book, I May Kill You, was a standalone featuring another ex-police detective who gets caught up in hunting for a serial killer. This was an attempt to be a bit more of a police procedural, though the hero works with the police, not for them.

3. Do you think that being an independent author has become easier during the last six years, and if so, in which ways?

On a technical level, yes, I think so. The various methods by which we can write and produce our books as both ebooks and paperbacks has become easier, both through Amazon and the other outlets like Draft2Digital, which enables your book to be distributed to a range of outlets like Apple iBooks and Kobo. Also, the more often you do it, the more experienced you become and can avoid the pitfalls. There’s more support available for independent authors, too, both in terms of ad hoc Facebook groups and more professional outfits such as the Alliance for Independent Authors, which is a great organization for authors to be a part of. In addition, YouTube offers lots of videos for aspiring authors, whether at a creative or a production level. You feel that you’re part of a growing community these days, not a weird outlier!

4. You are a prolific writer. When you spoke to us in 2014 you aimed to write three books a year, do you still do this?

Almost! Last year I wrote and published 3 in thirteen months. This year will be slower, I think. It’s going to have taken 6 months to write the current book and I doubt I’ll write another two in the following six. The virus has affected quite a lot of writers like this, I believe – in spite of having even more time to ourselves, it seems to have knocked some of the creative stuffing out of some of us. Not all, of course, but I have heard writers saying they’re finding it hard to concentrate on writing.

5 When writing crime fiction, how difficult is it to get the background, police procedure and forensics right? Do you have specialist contacts you can turn to for advice?

As you might expect, the Internet is a great boon here. In the past I’ve tried to steer clear as much as possible from police procedures because they simply slow everything down … ! But in my last book I had an ex-policeman working closely with an active DCI, so I did a lot of reading to establish police procedures and forensics and so on. The worry is that if you ask questions of active policemen or -women, their answers are going to squash your plot! So one treads a fine line between not being outright silly and maintaining a sort of urgency in the plotting. There are several books written by serving or ex-policemen geared towards crime writers nowadays and they’re very helpful. Also, I try to remember that all of these people are human beings working with other human beings – I’ve worked in collaboration with people for years and I know the kind of rapport that’s built up between you when you’re working in a common cause. Besides I read Colin Dexter say that the only research he did for the Morse series was to sit in a police station for a morning … so I try not to worry!

6. Has your marketing strategy changed very much over the years?

Marketing? What’s this strange notion of which you speak? 😉 I’ve tried several approaches over the years – Facebook groups, Facebook Ads, Amazon Ads, competitions … none of them seem to have any long-lasting effects. So it’s always a cat-and-mouse struggle where people say, What seems to be working at the moment? For a while it was Facebook ads, and then Amazon Ads came along and they seemed to work well and were flavour of the month for a while … and of course there’s Bookbub, but I’d have to spend over $600 for one ad in my genre and I’m just unwilling to risk it. At the moment I’ve paid for a company to run some Amazon Ads for I May Kill You in the UK, and they had an impact initially. I’m also running Amazon Ads myself in the US. The difficulty is in knowing what’s effective, because the conventional wisdom is that it can take at least 2 weeks for an ad to prove its effectiveness … and by that time one feels any improved sales might be based on market shifts or whims, not necessarily on one’s ads. So it’s difficult! I’m thinking that the best strategy is still just to produce as many books as possible so that they start to feed off one another.

7. Which of your books has given you the most pleasure to write?

Probably The Cobalt Sky. I’d been reading a lot of Ross Macdonald– he’s the creator of the Private Eye Lew Archer. I like his writing style and the fact that his plots are energetic, with the detective tracking down clues and talking to people and solving mini-problems along the way … so I’ve slowly been introducing what I would call an ‘influence’ into my own writing, concentrating in particular on the surface of the writing itself, the use of imagery and metaphor to add depth to the interactions between people, without slowing down the plot! The Cobalt Sky was the second book in which I’d attempted this and I felt I had a better grasp of what I was trying to do in it.

8. Please tell us a little about your latest book. Can you give us a little preview of the plot?

The latest book is called The Two Fathers. In it, Sam is hired by a man who wants him to find out what his wife is up to when she leaves the house at night. The client works at night so can’t do it himself and he’s worried about what his wife is doing. Sam doesn’t like divorce work – shades of Philip Marlowe! – but finally agrees to help. When he does so, he finds himself involved in an intrigue involving a crooked florist, a drug-smuggling conspiracy and a family on the verge of breaking apart. I hope it doesn’t become too obvious, but the backbone of the plot is based on an ancient Greek play, a foundational crime story!

Thank you so much for talking to us, Keith, and good luck with ‘The Two Fathers.'

If you would like to know more about Keith Dixon and his crime novels go to his web page www.keithdixonnovels.com or check him out on Amazon.

If you want to receive a copy of my monthly newsletter or hear about new releases and special offers click here. Thank you for reading.

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Sardines and Bonfires

12/6/2020

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Once again it’s time to gather around a bonfire on the beach, eat sardines and celebrate the eve of San Juan, which coincides approximately with Midsummer’s Eve. In the Christian calendar the 24th of June is the feast of St John the Baptist, or as he is known in Spain, San Juan. The shortest night of the year, known as Midsummer’s Eve or the Summer Solstice, is in June but the date varies according to the calendar—this year it falls on June 20th —but it is usually either 20th or 21st June. It has been foremost to pagan worship for centuries. Ancient peoples, for whom the seasons and the fertility of the land were central to their existence, burned fires on that night to symbolise the power of the sun and to help renew its energy.
Many of these old pagan traditions have been handed down and repeated every year. In some regions, if you jump over the bonfire nine times on that evening, it is said that you will be protected from evil spirits. In the Málaga area, three times is sufficient and you will meet the man you’ll marry. Naturally you have to wait until the bonfire has burnt down somewhat before you try to jump over it, otherwise you’ll have worse things to worry about than evil spirits or a forthcoming wedding.

Another tradition, especially in the north of Spain, is to collect herbs such as rue, rosemary, fennel and lemon verbena. You can either hang a bunch of them in your doorway or leave them in water for a few hours, and then wash your face in the scented water. This will guarantee you good health for the rest of the year. In coastal areas, women who bathe in the sea on that night are said to become fertile. In Málaga people still like to dip their feet in the sea after midnight to ensure they remain eternally beautiful, or have good luck.
But it’s the line of glowing bonfires that stretches along the beach on that night, that is the most spectacular part of the celebration. In some areas people write their wishes on pieces of paper and burn them; in other parts of Spain they make a huge guy from cloth, sawdust and paper and burn it on the bonfire.
The basic ideas behind these pagan traditions are plain, the herbs and plants are good for your health, fire is a protection against evil spirits and water has a purifying effect.
The reason the Christian church has chosen the Summer solstice as the Feast of St John the Baptist on 24th June, is because John the Baptist was said to be six months older than Jesus. As 25th December was nominated as the birthday of Christ then that made John’s birthday in June. As with many things in the religious calendar, on the eve of San Juan we find a blend of Christian and pagan beliefs.

As for the sardines, well they are definitely good for your health, as they are high in Omega 3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. They are also very plentiful and in June are at their best.
So, I for one, am looking forward to a warm evening on the beach near where I live, eating sardines and watching other people jumping over the bonfires. I might venture down to the sea and wash my feet; after all who knows?

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BOOKS TO WHILE AWAY THE HOURS DAY 5

26/3/2020

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My last book for this week is a real page turner. Set in Iceland it is based on the true story of Agnes Magnusdottir. BURIAL RITES was written by the Australian author, Hannah Kent as part of her PhD thesis.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE BAILEYS WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2014.
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2013 GUARDIAN FIRST BOOK AWARD.

Set in Northern Iceland in 1829.
A woman is condemned to death for murdering her lover.
A family forced to take her in.
A priest tasked with absolving her.
But all is not as it seems, and time is running out:
winter is coming, and with it the execution date.

Only she can know the truth. This is Agnes's story.

A fascinating glimpse of Icelandic life in 19th century, interwoven with myths and legends that still influenced the islanders way of life and attitudes. This is more than a crime novel.

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