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Dorothy A. Winsor, who lives in Barrington, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago,USA, is published, as I am, by small independent press, Inspired Quill. The Wysman, her new novel for young adults, comes out on June 27.
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"The Grabber is just a fright tale."
Former street kid Jarka was born with a crooked foot, but that no longer matters now that he’s an apprentice Wysman, training to advise the king. When poor kids start to go missing from the city’s streets, though, Jarka suspects that whatever’s causing the disappearances comes from the castle.
Will Jarka succeed in uncovering an evil long-hidden, or will he see friends and family vanish into the darkness? And whose side is the King on, in his determination to bind his nobles to him no matter what black arts they’ve dabbled in?
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I first connected with Annalisa Crawford, who lives in Cornwall, UK, in a Facebook group for writers of literary fiction. Her debut novel for adults,
Grace & Serenity, will be published on 7 July.
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Grace, eighteen and married with a baby, is caught in a spiral of domestic abuse. She gathers the courage to escape her husband, but in the aftermath her baby is taken by him back to the family home. One bad decision after another leads her to sleeping rough on the streets, where her only comforts are a steady stream of vodka, and a strange little boy who’s following her around.
Grace & Serenity is my first novel, after publishing four novellas/story collections. I write dark contemporary fiction with a hint of paranormal.
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I want to extend the invitation to all writers who subscribe to this newsletter, whether or not you have published a book. Writers, bloggers and wordsmiths, if you’d like to be featured, get in touch! Readers, send me your suggestions on how this might work best for you! Just hit reply!
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Black Lives Matter in fiction too
If recent events have you itching to read about
the transatlantic slave trade and its legacy, I can offer some novel recommendations; click on a title to go to the review on my website.
The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead is a harrowing story of black lives wasted in a brutal reform school in 1960’s Florida, with a surprise ending that packs an emotional punch.
On Africa’s Gold Coast in the mid eighteenth century, a woman gives birth to twin daughters. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi follows the fortunes of these two girls and their families across the next six generations to paint a compassionate portrait of black history, both in West Africa and in America, a story of fractured families, intergroup conflict, religion, slavery, the use and abuse of power and the human determination to survive.
Esi Edugyan’s Man Booker Prize shortlisted Washington Black, is a page-turning adventure story of a boy’s journey from the brutal sugarcane plantations of Barbados to the icy wastes of the Arctic to London’s first aquarium and the Moroccan desert, embracing science and innovation as well as the horrors of slavery.
In The Confessions of Frannie Langton by Sara Collins, we meet two women damaged by slavery: the eponymous house slave Frannie, tried for murder, and a wealthy white woman, Marguerite, who takes a peripheral interest in the emancipation movement, while her husband argues not for abolition, but reform.
In The Evening Road by Laird Hunt, the last in a trilogy of novels exploring US history from a neglected perspective, three spirited women take to the road on a hot day in 1930s America, when a lynching is about to take place.
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Name that asylum …
deadline extended, but not for long!
Thanks for the fabulous suggestions of a name for the psychiatric hospital in my forthcoming novel, Matilda Windsor Is Coming Home. If you’ve been meaning to submit, but haven’t got round to it, you've a couple of extra days to send me your ideas.
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If you’ve lost the email with the competition details, or if you’ve only recently subscribed, tap on the image for the entry requirements.
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I’ve extended the deadline by a few days only for anyone yet to be inspired! Simply reply to this email with a suggested name for the hospital by midnight Monday June 15th to be in with a chance of winning a book.
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Terms and conditions
To be eligible for a free copy of Matilda Windsor Is Coming Home, you must remain subscribed to this newsletter until publication in May 2021. There will be three competitions overall, but no entrant may win more than one book. If one of my close relatives wins a prize, I’ll pick a second winner.
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Sugar and Snails giveaway
June is PRIDE month and, with stock going nowhere fast, I’m offering a copy of my debut novel to a friend or relative of three lucky newsletter subscribers. If you know someone who would like to receive a signed copy of Sugar and Snails, at no cost to you or them, reply to this email telling me why. I don’t need names or addresses initially, but your nominee must have a UK address (sorry!) and, if successful, you need to be able to let the recipient know the gift is on its way.
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Good luck, stay safe and see you next time!
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