Author Interview - Rita Gerlach

1. Welcome, I’m so glad to have this opportunity to chat with you. Can you share with my readers the essence of the story you’ve penned?

Thanks for having me, Mirella. It is a privilege.

While Surrender the Wind focuses on relationships both marital and within a family, it is in every sense of the word of romantic historical novel with the historical ambience of the period in which it is written, with twists and turns that take readers back to a time of raw courage and ideal love.

Seth’s journey brings him many trials, where his devotion to those he loves is tested. For our heroine, Juleah, she must stand against all odds to be with Seth, no matter what the cost. In so doing, she discovers how very deep the waters of love can flow.

So, the essence of this story is multi-faceted. It is a layering of commitment, devotion, sacrifice, duty, honour, and the search for truth, all wrapped up in one word - Love.

2. You’ve chosen a very interesting title. What inspired the title? What inspired the book?

I wanted to give the book a title that reflects the ‘essence’ of the story. Surrender means to release, to yield, to relinquish. Wind is representative of the hardships that knock us to the ground, that buffet us and push against us, that try to impede our happiness and peace. Thus, Surrender the Wind is all about Seth and Juleah releasing those things that came against them to something great than themselves, and a recognition that they could not survive the storms of life without it.

3. What makes this book special to you?

Each book that I write has special meaning to me. Surrender the Wind is special because I really do consider it my break through novel. My other books were published through print on demand which, honestly, impeded sales. Surrender the Wind is published by a highly respected publisher and available in bookstores everywhere. It is gaining broader recognition, and the reviews have been awesome.

4. What makes this a book that people MUST read and WHY?

Robert Frost said, ‘No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader’. When I first read his quote, I took it to heart. This is what I set out to do in Surrender the Wind. I make every attempt to write something unique historically, and to allow the reader to feel they are in the story, that they see, hear, taste, and touch, what the characters are experiencing. My novels are emotionally charged, and pull the reader back in time.

Today’s world is very stressful and fast-paced. The goal of my writing is to give readers a respite from a harried life, help them forget their worries for a while, and inspire them to live fully and gratefully.

Warning: There are places in this story where you will tear up. There are surprises, twists and turns. There are times you will smile and become endeared to the characters, except for the villain and the odious constable. You will loathe them.

5. What sparks your creativity? Any tips to help others spark their own creativity?

I’ve always had a vivid imagination. I remember standing in my mother’s kitchen at age four telling her with great enthusiasm a story. I’d go to sleep at night making stories up in my mind. The spark is innate. That is not to say I don’t have periods of writer’s block. I do. And it is frustrating. But to be specific, I’d have to say reading historical classics and watching period movies such as Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice, listening to classical music or soundtracks, and taking a day’s outing to the country spark my creativity and give me the desire to write. Tips on how other writers can spark their creativity? Well, you must find what works for you. It might be reading a novel in your genre. It might be music or a walk down a country lane. The key is to be patient for the spark, but do all you can to ignite it.

6. What has been the biggest stumbling block in your writing? Can you share some tips to help others get past similar problems?

I read your question over several times and really thought long and hard about it. Perhaps it is my tendency to not want to write what the market requires. For example, most publishers are looking for novels where the heroine is the central character. I am drawn to writing about the strong hero who risks life and limb for the woman he loves. Surrender the Wind was rejected by one publishing company because of Seth being the main character in the beginning of the story. But as it moves forward, Seth and Juleah share the main stage together.

When it came to technique, point of view was once my roadblock. I had to learn to stick to one point of view instead of head hopping. The way I learned to do this is to read aloud my writing in first person, as if the character that is the focus in a scene is speaking.

My advice to writers having similar problems is to think about why a particular thing is a stumbling block. Can you make it a strength?

7. Tell me about the most unusual things you have done to promote your book?


I’ve sent out gift packages of stationary to the first three readers who preordered the book. I wish I could afford to do this for everyone that purchases a copy. One thing that I plan to do is to have a bumper sticker made with http://ritagerlach.com/ on it and slap it on the rear bumper of my car.

8. Each author is different in the way they create a work of fiction. Please describe for us how you plan or plot a story.

An idea pops into my head. I jot it down. Then characters come to mind. I keep a notebook for each novel and as things come to me, scenes, setting, dialogue, and narrative, I write them down. I do not do a plot outline. But I do write a short synopsis that guides me along. When I start a book, of often don’t know where it is going exactly. The story unfolds as I write it.

9. Authors are very unique in the way they write, the tools they use, when they write, etc. Please describe a typical writing day for you? How do you organize your day?

Organize my day? I wish that were always the case. In this household, no day is alike, and something always seems to come up to ‘disorganize’ my life. But I like to write mostly in the morning when the house is quiet and there are fewer interruptions. I start the morning by reading emails and responding to them. Then I read a couple online newspapers, and writers’ blogs. After a cup of eye-opening coffee, I’m ready to delve into my novel in progress. The weekends I set aside for spending time with family. I work on things like interviews, my website and blog, and marketing during the week.

10. What is your current work in progress?

I’m writing a novel set in England once again. It begins with a traumatic event in my heroine’s childhood, and then moves forward to when she is a grown woman. It is a love story and a tragedy wrapped up in one, but with the promise of a happy ending.

11. Can you tell us where to find more information about you and your books and how readers can reach you?

You can find more about me on my website. I have a contact page with my email address. The url is http://ritagerlach.com/

12. What would you like our readers to know about you and your writing?

I want readers to know that I am a writer whose goal is to please. I want to give you your money’s worth. I don’t want to write the same-old-same-old. So, I am hoping I will give you a break from the mundane.

One more thing about me, I will leave as a mystery. I am the cousin of the most famous romance writer in America. Can you guess whom?

Thanks, Mirella, for the interview. It was a pleasure. And thank you for reading and reviewing Surrender the Wind!

Surrender the Wind Book Review

Seth Braxton fought loyally in the American Revolution. Not for England, his homeland, but for America and the rich Virginian farmland he owns and cherishes. It is a way of life he has wholeheartedly come to love. But the war and his role as an American patriot has torn his family apart when his younger sister, Caroline, is sent to England to live with their loyalist grandfather whom Seth believes has disowned him.

Much to his surprise, Seth Braxton learns of his grandfather's death and that the old man left his entire estate, Ten Width, to him. Although reluctant to leave his beloved Virginia, he travels to England to check on his sister and conclude matters regarding his inheritance. Then he dreams of returning to America. When he arrives he is dismayed to learn that tragedy has struck. Caroline has lost not only her husband, but her young son too. She is bedridden with illness and grief. At her side is her long-time friend Juleah, the daughter of eccentric gentleman and delicate mother.


Juleah's beauty and strength instantly win Seth and they soon wed. But Juleah's past rises to the forefront and prevents harmony in their new marriage. An old suitor, the son of Seth's grandfather's second wife, is angered at Juleah's marriage and he sets out to take back what he has always sought --- Juleah and Ten Width Manor.

Bit by bit, Seth and Juleah find themselves embroiled in treachey. From kidnapping to deceit, betrayal to murder, one sinister plot after another fills the pages of this novel to ensnare the reader to the very end.

Surrender the Wind is a gripping tale of intrigue that kept me turning the pages long after I should have turned out the lights. I found the characters believable and well-rounded, their dialogue vividly realistic. The pace quickens chapter by chapter as one story twists after another is revealed. Historically accurate, the reader is drawn into the detailed description of English life.

Expect the unexpected in this inspirational tale of romance and history.

Surrender the Wind by Rita Gerlach

SURRENDER THE WIND

A quick~match tale of unexpected love . . .

A fuse that burned rapidly ...

Coming to a bookstore near you August 2009!

After a harrowing escape from the British, patriot Seth Braxton finds his father dead at Yorktown. Now battle scarred and grieving, he endeavors to settle down for a peaceful life along the shores of the Potomac by restoring the land his father loved.

Thinking he will forever stay in the secluded wilderness, he receives a message that he has inherited his grandfather's estate in faraway England. Seth is torn between the land he's fought for and the prospect of reuniting with his sister, Caroline, who was a motherless child at the onset of the Revolution, taken to England in order to spare her the horrors of war.

With no intention of making his stay at Ten Width permanent, he journeys to England to do his duty. When he arrives, he finds his sister in the throes of grief after being told her young son has died of a fever. In the midst of so much tragedy, he meets Juleah, the daughter of an eccentric landed gentleman. Her independent spirit and gentle soul steal his heart, and she becomes his wife and lady of the manor, enraging the man who once sought her hand and hoped Ten Width would be his own.

From the Virginia wilderness, to the dark halls of an isolated English estate, Seth inherits more than a crumbling ancestral home. He uncovers a sinister plot that leads to murder, abduction, and betrayal --- an ominous mix that threatens to destroy his new life and new love.

The Interpretation of Murder by Jeb Rubenfeld

New York City, 1909. The first skyscrapers were being built and luxurious apartment living became all the rage amongst the rich and fashionable city dwellers. Elizabeth Riverford, a young socialite is found murdered in the newly built Balmoral Hotel in Manhattan by a killer with a penchant for knives, silk ties, and a riding crop.

Psychoanalyst, Stratham Younger is scheduled to meet Dr Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung to speak at American Universities in an age when psychoanalysis is in its infancy. Freud offers advice to the budding psychoanalyst, Younger, as to how to treat one of the murderer's surviving victims. The young lady, Nora Acton, has lost her voice and cannot remember the details of her attack, but her injuries are remarkably similar to the murdered girl's.

Dr Younger finds himself becoming increasingly attracted to the child-like Nora, whose inner thoughts are darker than even Younger can sometimes cope with. To complicate matters, Younger is also caught up in the rivalry between Freud and protégé Carl Jung, as well as corruption in the New York police force, a seedy era in Chinatown, the construction of the Manhattan Bridge, and Younger’s changing theories about the motivations of Hamlet.

The detective investigating the murder, Jimmie Littlemore, takes a leading role in the narrative, with his red bow tie and straw boater. Coroner Hugel asks for Littlemore to be assigned to the case because, ‘He cannot be bought. At least not yet’.

The story takes the reader into seedier parts of the city and brothel’s used by leading citizens, as well as the intimidation of sweatshop workers in an age of budding union organisation.
Mr Rubenfeld's account of what New York looked, smelled and felt like during the turn of the century when skyscrapers began to rise out of the busy streets.

Added to that, the fact Dr Younger was also a nephew of Mamie Stuyvesant Fish and is invited to one of her socialite parties, gives us yet another dimension in the Vanderbilt/Astor feud which I found particularly compelling.

Added to the mix of characters are the wealthy industrialist who thinks he is completely beyond the law, together with the Mayor who is in his pocket, a well meaning but inadequate coroner and various city workers who are out for themselves and for whom the truth is a distant concept they have no aspiration for.

Carl Jung is portrayed as having serious personality order of his own which degenerates into insanity, but the amiable Dr Freud seems unaffected by his raw ambition and seems to want to protect the man. Freud himself also has a physiologically weak bladder, which I felt didn't add much to the story but I'm sure the author had a reason for it.

I found the descriptions of the building of the Brooklyn Bridge and the terrible conditions the workers lived and died in, compared to the grand houses of the wealthy in Gramercy Park, the onset of mechanical taxicabs in New York – green ones not yellow, was so atmospheric I could see it all.

My only criticism would be that the author pontificates at length on the meaning of Hamlet's 'To be or not to be' speech and the motives for his procrastination in the killing of his uncle. I couldn't help feeling these convoluted theories had no relevance to this story other than to pad out an already very long book – over 200,000 words.

I would heartily recommend this story, for all the reasons I stated earlier and felt my skimming through the 'Hamlet' parts didn't detract from my own enjoyment at all. There is also an informative website at: www.interpretationofmurder.com which also gives more information about New York in 1909 with maps, and some interesting information about Sigmund Freud.

by Anita Davison

The Lady and The Poet

The story Of John Donne and Ann More by Maeve Haran

From the moment I opened the first page and read how Ann castigated her sister Bett for the disruption she had been put to in order to sweeten the house in preparation for Bett’s forthcoming wedding, I knew I was going to enjoy this book.

Ann More is the fourth of five daughters whose mother died when she was still a child. The More girls have been brought up at the manor of Loseley, near Guildford in Surrey, by their grandparents, Sir William and the Lady Margaret More. Their brother, Robert, lives with his pompous father and shrewish step-mother, Constance nearby.

Ann is fourteen when the story opens, and she asks God if her fate is to be the same as her sister’s who have been married to debtors and dolts by their father. She longs for more, possibly even a meeting of minds in a husband in late Elizabethan England, a time and place when women were property for their fathers to barter with into marriages to forge family alliances.

Ann doubts her courage in standing up for what she wants, but you know she is certainly going to give it all she has. Her wilfulness and intelligence are seen as barriers to her marriageability and her grandparents forbid her to study after three in the afternoon in case she becomes ‘too clever to be a wife’ when chastity, silence and obedience are what is asked for in a woman.

After Bett’s wedding, Ann hears that her father is planning on a marriage for her, but that in the meantime she is to be sent to London to learn to be a court lady in the dying years of Queen Elizabeth’s reign. This must surely be a good thing, for Ann reads Ovid, and doesn’t the Virgin Queen do likewise?

She goes to live with her aunt and uncle, who is the Lord keeper of the Privy Seal at York House on The Strand. However, much to her aunt's agner, Ann rejects the suggestion she become a lady in waiting to the ageing Queen whose displays her jealousy of all younger women with staggering cruelly.

Despite that the man Sir George chooses for Ann, Mr Richard Manners is not unlikeable and seems bonded to Ann already, she has no wish to become betrothed to him. When her Aunt Elizabeth is ill with smallpox, Ann elects to stay and help nurse her. During these days when her movements are less restricted, she and John Donne meet in secret. Their love is strong, although at this stage still pure, but Sir George More, her father is incandescent with rage that a nobody like Donne should look at his daughter.

This story has all the elements of a doomed love, and with the might of Ann’s family ranged against her in her father and sisters, you wonder how this couple will ever be together. Ms Haran portrays the atmosphere and detailed elements of Elizabethan life wonderfully well with this book, reiterating the fact no one in Elizabethan England rose to any position without friends in high places, and could equally be brought down by those friends as well.

I am sure readers will suffer along with Ann as she is taken from her love and virtually incarcerated back at Loseley to be betrothed to Mr Manners. The fact this is a true story makes it all the more poignant as they are forced to enter into a secret marriage which spells the near ruin of both Ann and her intellectually superior husband.

John Donne, who went on to become Dean of St Pauls under the auspices of James I, summed up his personal situation in what, I hope, wasn’t a regretful phrase: "John Donne, Ann Donne, Undone."

Chapter One - The Confession of Piers Gaveston

The Beginning: The Burning

In every candle flame, in every torch, camp and bon fire, I see her face. Every time I stretch out my hands to the hearth’s welcoming warmth, I see her writhing in agony amongst the flames: blackened, burnt, and bald, her beautiful long black hair all gone, eaten up by the hungry flames. And I hear the rattle of the heavy chains binding her firmly against the stake.

Her eyes alone—so deep a brown they appear black, just like mine—remain the same, human still, amidst the ruins of a beauty the flames would render monstrous. The fire, and those who condemned her to this fate, have stripped her of everything else—her dignity, her liberty, her property, her life. They have also deprived two young children—a boy of seven and a newborn girl—of their mother. But “Justice must be done,” “Thou shall not suffer a witch to live,” her judges sanctimoniously declare.

Though twenty years have come and gone, her eyes haunt me still. Awake or dreaming, I see them, pain-filled and beseeching, rimmed in red and overflowing with tears, as they turn to me, silently conveying a message heart-heavy with a mother’s love and regret that she will not be there to care for me and see me to manhood grown.

I hold her gaze, and it is as if we two are alone, and my ears are deaf and my eyes blind to the boorish Gascon peasants and French soldiers that surround us. Even though my nursemaid, Agnes, is there, her hand upon my shoulder, I neither hear nor heed her tearful, urgent pleas that we leave this accursed place. In this moment only my mother and I exist, everything else is as nothing, and time has stopped.

Even should I be cursed with eternal life, forgetfulness would never find me. The memory is seared into my mind just as surely as if it had been branded there. Indeed, my body is branded. I carry the mark of that day upon my hands in the form of scars from when I, a foolish and hysterical child, tried to pull her from the flames.

Even now I am haunted by the laughter of those who watched as I yelped and leapt back, reeling, nearly fainting from the blistering intensity of the pain radiating from my palms. I hated myself then; defeated by the least little lick of the flames, when she stood powerless and trapped within their midst. And, most of all, I hated them—that merry, mocking crowd, cavorting round the bonfire like May Day revelers while my mother burned!

How many of them had come to her for healing herbs, salves, and specially brewed teas to help ease their aches and pains, to have their wounds dressed, their bones set, and their children brought into the world? How many of them had found their way, in tears and dire need, to our door? My mother, Claremunda of Marcia, was as kind and wise as she was beautiful, and her heart and door were always open to those in need; no one was ever turned away. And now they dubbed her “Satan’s handmaiden” and cast her into “the purifying power of flame!” Hypocrites! My heart screamed.

Nowadays those who gaze upon my hands say the scars are the Devil’s Mark, left upon my flesh when Satan’s crimson-eyed night-black hellhounds reared their ugly heads to lick Piers Gaveston’s hands the night he swore his allegiance to the Dark Lord. I make no attempt to hide them. I wear gloves only in winter and when I ride. All other times, I flaunt them, decking them with a glittering array of rings, especially rubies which I adore above all gems. Even though they ceased to pain me long ago, Edward, His Most Christian Majesty King Edward II by the Grace of God, (or Nedikins as he prefers me to call him in our most intimate moments), covers them with kisses and soothing lotions as if they still festered and throbbed. But the truth is, no lotion, no matter how cool or sweet smelling, can soothe away the pain of seeing the person you love best in the world being burned alive before your very eyes while you stand by, small, helpless, and alone, surrounded by those who do naught but laugh and cheer.

No sooner had I leapt back from the fire’s agonizing kiss than I was swept up, high into the air, by the village priest. “Thou shall not suffer a witch to live!” his voice thundered as he held me above the dancing flames and I felt the soles of my red leather shoes scorch. Choking and nauseous from the scent of smoke, and her dear burning flesh, he drew me back, and a tearful sigh escaped me, for I had grown so slick with sweat I feared I would slip from his grasp and fall straight into the flames. He turned me round to face him and I remember thinking what a crime it was to entrust a man with such soulless eyes with the salvation of men’s souls. “Thou shall not suffer a witch to live!” he repeated, shaking me hard. “Remember that, Piers Gaveston, witch’s brat!” With that he cast me aside, flinging me from him as if I were some stinking bit of offal that offended his nose and eyes. I struck the ground so hard that my shoulder was jarred from its socket and the breath knocked from my lungs.

Before I could regain my breath or wits and summon strength enough to scream the curses that raged within my heart, Agnes snatched me up and fled as fast as her legs could carry her. From over her shoulder I had my last glimpse of my mother. The chains had stopped rattling. She was still now; her head sagged forward, like a flower grown too heavy for its stem.

This is how my story begins. Of course I was born like everyone else, but it was the day my mother died that changed forever the course of my life; a life, like hers, that is also likely to end in murder.

Thus here I sit in gloomy, windswept Scarborough Castle, perched high upon the cliffs above a raging sea, awaiting Edward’s return with reinforcements—by which I mean a miracle—while Pembroke’s army bays for my blood. Or is that but a delusion wrought by the crashing waves and the wind whistling through the cold stone walls?

Our provisions, like our numbers, are few; few would rally to the cause of the most hated man in England. And with every day that passes that number shrinks as yet more of my supporters slink away into the night.

The time to surrender draws nigh. I will not see this siege drawn out until all are skeletons and starving. But not yet, not while a slender hope remains that Edward may return in time, even though that hope has no more substance than a cobweb, I will cling to it for just a little while longer. Soon, I will do what needs to be done, soon; but not yet. For now I shall while away the anxious hours with this little book Edward gave me.

The covers are gold, embossed with vibrant emeralds and peerless pearls, but the pages are blank, a clean creamy field of vellum that awaits my words. When he gave it to me, Edward said that the words I would fill it with would far eclipse the value of the gems outside, though I daresay he intended that I should immortalize our love in poetry or pen laments to dying swans.

Poor Nedikins, I fear the value he places upon both me and my words will plummet when he reads this; if he reads this. Whether this book will ever reach him, I do not know. But, if it does, and should it survive that encounter, it will be in a very battered state. You see, I know Edward very well. For twelve years I have been the center of his world. Verily, I can see him now as he reads the revelations I shall soon set down. Pearls and emeralds will fly as he bashes this book against the wall, or flings it onto the floor and leaps and stomps upon it, screaming: “How could you do this to me?” Like as not, he will end by throwing it in the fire then burn his fingers snatching it out again. He may even set his tunic afire beating out the flames. But be that as it may, I am determined to set down the truth about my life since no one else can do it for me. Edward is blinded by desire, to him I am perfection. His behavior does naught to belie the rumors that I have bewitched him. In England they say there are two kings: Edward who reigns and Gaveston who rules. And to my child bride Meg. so sweet and trusting, I have been too much a stranger. Agnes and Dragon, who know all, can neither read nor write. Others know fragments of the story, but not the whole, and by everyone else I am despised.

Mayhap even now, when I have only just begun, it is already too late to set the story straight. My infamy, I fear, is too well entrenched. Whenever they tell the story of Edward’s reign I will always be the villain and Edward, the poor, weak-willed, pliant king who fell under my spell, the golden victim of a dark enchantment. There are two sides to every coin, but when the bards and chroniclers, the men who write the histories, tell this story will anyone remember that?

People say so many things: facts, falsehoods, and fanciful marriages betwixt the two, but nothing is ever exactly as it seems. Whatever I am—good or bad; wrong or wronged; guilty or not—please do not condemn me unheard. As the end of my life draws nigh, please allow me to have my say; withhold your judgment for just a little while…

Interview with Brandy Purdy

1. Welcome, I’m so glad to have this opportunity to chat with you. Can you share with my readers the essence of the story you’ve penned?
Thank you, I’m glad to have this opportunity. THE CONFESSION OF PIERS GAVESTON is the story of Edward II’s notorious favourite, told in Gaveston’s own words as his life is about to come to an end. But Gaveston is an unreliable narrator, one is never quite sure if he is telling the whole truth, some, or none of it, or if he is trying to show himself in the most favourable light or garner sympathy; so one has to take it all with a grain of salt, maybe even a whole shaker of salt. And, one also has to remember, the way the various characters are depicted is how Gaveston is seeing them at that particular time in his life—a life that is about to end in murder—so some measure of bitterness and resentment can be expected to cast a shadow.

2. You’ve chosen a very interesting title. What inspired the title? What inspired the book?

Thank you. The use of the word “confession” in the title comes from the religious atmosphere of the Middle Ages, and also, it’s a bit of a play on words given that there have always been persistent rumours of witchcraft associated with Gaveston, and in my novel witchcraft is indeed his religion; he only pays lip service to Christianity, so one has to wonder how seriously he would take the idea of Confession; in other words: how sincere and sacred is this, his final, confession?

As for the way I came to write it, the book wasn’t born out of a burning ambition to be a writer or anything like that. It just sort of happened. Ever since I first learned to read I’ve always been a voracious reader, books are my consolation, they have always been the only constant in my life, so when I can’t read, when there is some situation or emotional disturbance that robs me of the desire or attacks and disables my concentration, then I KNOW I’m in trouble. Such was the case a few years ago when my mother died. I kept trying to read but I just couldn’t focus, I would read the same sentence over and over again, but I couldn’t take it in. I kept trying different books, trying to find something my mind could latch onto and digest. Finally I picked up a book about royal scandals, it was written in a lively, sort of gossipy tone, a factual but not a scholarly work. I started at the beginning but I couldn’t manage it, I was so frustrated I felt like throwing the book at the wall. I decided to try one more time before I gave up and opened it at random. The page I turned to was the first page of the chapter on Edward II and Piers Gaveston.

I had no familiarity with the story at all, if I had ever even heard of Piers Gaveston before it wasn’t enough to make an impression on me and I have no memory of it. But, for some reason, I was able to read that chapter, and I became fascinated by the story. I started reading everything I could find about Piers Gaveston, and I became particularly intrigued by the rumours and the gaps in his life; there is so little actually known about him as a person, we don’t know what he looked like, there are no letters telling us what he thought or felt, and I was drawn to the challenge of trying to give him a voice. And the novel just happened; I just sat down one day and started writing.

3. What makes this book special to you?

Well I probably shouldn’t say this in an interview that I’m hoping may give a boost to book sales, but I will: This little book has faced a lot of opposition, both personally and professionally. I have even been told on more than one occasion that I should be ashamed of myself for writing it. When no one else would take a chance on it I decided to gamble and take the chance myself via self-publishing after having spent years trying to find a publisher in the traditional manner. Although I had an agent who genuinely liked the book, and a senior editor at one of the major publishing houses fell in love with it, in this world, money talks, and every time this book has come up against the powers that be in a publisher’s marketing department it has always been rejected because they believe that a historical novel about personalities who are not as well known as say Anne Boleyn or Alexander the Great, written from the viewpoint of a man will fail to attract readers, it has also been implied, though not explicitly stated, that the homosexuality of the characters makes it even more difficult from a marketing standpoint. Personally I happen to disagree, and not just because my book is on the receiving end of their rejections, as a straight female who has been a dedicated reader of historical fiction since the age of ten, I read any novel that intrigues me and holds my interest, the gender and sexual preferences of the characters is immaterial and has never been a deciding factor; I like a good, well-told story. As for my novel, I guess I just feel that this book needs me more; to believe in it and try to do the best I can for it since no one else will.

4. What makes this a book that people MUST read and WHY?

My novel gives Piers Gaveston a voice, it is an attempt to reconstruct a personality that has been largely lost in the mists of time and history and obscured by sensationalism and rumours that began even in his own lifetime. And for readers who like the concept of an unreliable narrator, I think they might find my version of Gaveston both interesting and entertaining.

5. What sparks your creativity? Any tips to help others spark their own creativity?

I wish I could answer this one better, but I don’t know, with me it just happens. I read or hear or see something and it just latches onto my mind and won’t let go; I have to write whatever it is down on a sort of ideas list to get any peace, otherwise, it will just keep gnawing and pulling at my attention until I do. Sometimes these “little sparks of inspiration” stay with me for years, like with Lady Rochford. I became interested in Tudor England, especially Anne Boleyn who sparked my interest in history in general, at an early age, and I was always fascinated by the role her sister-in-law played in her story. Lady Rochford accused her husband, George Boleyn, of committing incest with his sister Anne, and they both ended their lives on the scaffold, then some years later she acted as go-between in Katherine Howard’s adultery, and, in an act of what some might call poetic justice, ended up bowing her own head to the headsman. The “Why?” and “How?” of it always intrigued me—Why did she do it? How did she live with herself afterwards? You don’t just do something like that and then it’s over and done and you just don’t think about it anymore, it has to touch you in some lingering way that stays with you, even if you try to push it away and bury it in the back of your mind, there will be times when it burrows its way back up to the forefront again, and that’s what eventually drove me to write my second novel, VENGEANCE IS MINE, which will be reprinted and published as THE BOLEYN WIFE in February 2010.

6. What has been the biggest stumbling block in your writing?

Loneliness, and the lack of encouragement and moral support as a consistent and Real presence in my life. At least I have the internet; it allows me to talk to people in distant places, and some of them are very supportive of my writing, and I am grateful for that.

7. Tell me about the most unusual things you have done to promote your book.

I haven’t really done anything unusual. I have my website, a blog, and I’ve just recently joined Twitter, I also have bookmarks that I give out, I always include these in the used books I sell on ebay, and I have a shop on www.cafepress.com that offers t-shirts and other items with my book’s peacock cover design on them. I’m a shy person and the idea of public speaking absolutely terrifies me, but fortunately I haven’t been asked to do anything like that yet.

8. Each author is different in the way they create a work of fiction. Please describe for us how you plan or plot a story.

I don’t really know how to explain it. I do research and take notes, I look at portraits and photographs, I jot down ideas as they come to me, I always keep notebooks at hand for this as sometimes they come to me after I’ve turned out the light to try to sleep or while I’m in the bath. I always write out a chronological list of events and dates I know I need to include, but beyond that I just do it. Writing seems to be an instinctual process for me, I have no formal training, I never took a class or read a how-to book, so I can’t really explain how I learned to do it, maybe I just absorbed it from reading so much.

9. Authors are very unique in the way they write, the tools they use, when they write, etc. Please describe a typical writing day for you? How do you organize your day?

I am a very unproductive writer, I don’t write on a daily basis. I am constantly criticized for this; people are always trying to push me to hurry up and get another book done, despite the tension and pressure this creates. I always try to explain that it’s an emotional process with me; I have to be all there, it’s not something I can do on autopilot, I have to be in the right mood, it’s not like ringing up sales at Wal-Mart or digging a ditch, but no one ever listens to me. The creative urge to sit down in front of the computer and write comes when it comes, and when it does, I answer the call, I don’t like to try to force it; that never achieves good results. When it’s there I just go with it, I will sit at the computer and write until I’m exhausted and I can’t see to keep going. I’m fortunate in that I am a fast typist; I can keep up with what my mind dictates, I could never do this longhand and write even remotely legibly, I always say my handwriting went to the Devil when I learned to type. My bursts of creativity don’t follow a pattern, I might write one night and it might be two weeks before it happens again, or I might write for two weeks then break for two days before I’m back at it again, or the period of inactivity may be even more lengthy; it’s entirely random. When I do write, I tend to do it at night as there are fewer interruptions and distractions like telemarketers ringing the phone and chores to do, and I have a tendency to insomnia.

10. What is your current work in progress?

I am doing research and taking notes for another historical novel, but I prefer not to go into specifics; I might jinx myself by talking about it. I would prefer to wait until I am further along before I make any public statements.

11. Can you tell us where to find more information about you and your books and how readers can reach you?

Gladly, I have a website, www.brandypurdy.com, a blog, http://brandypurdy.blogspot.com, and good old-fashioned email, of course, bkpbooks@yahoo.com

12. What would you like our readers to know about you and your writing?
There’s really not much to tell about me. In my writing I prefer quality over quantity, I would rather have two good books to my name, books that were written because I wanted to write them, than twenty that are just written because it is expected of me or to try to earn a profit.