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Daily message from Patricia |
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02/09/2005 STOP PRESS STOP PRESS STOP PRESS PATRICIA FINNEY is coming to WASHINGTON D.C., USA to talk about her books. Timetable: Sept 8th at 4:00p.m. -- C. Burr Artz Branch of the Frederick County Public Libraries, Frederick, Maryland - I'll be speaking about about I, Jack and the hazards of writing from the point of view of a very greedy dog. Sept 13th from 9:15a.m. - 11:30a.m. -- National Cathedral School, Washington, DC. Lady Grace Mysteries - why I wrote the stories and what the real Maids of Honour were like. Sept 15th at 7:30p.m. -- Hood College, Frederick, Maryland "Chicken-Chucking -- Not!" - this is about Elizabethan food and whether we could eat it. I'm hoping to have some samples of Elizabethan recipes for people to try. Sept 17th at (?) -- Fall for the Book Festival at George Mason University. He's large! He's yellow! He steals food! It's.... The Jack Show! -------------------------------------------------------------------
01/09/2005 Patricia Finney to tour USA
11/02/2004 Cor, whew, that was tricky. I have just moved to Spain - I felt I deserved a sabbatical after a particularly tough few years. However the move itself involved a 1600 mile road trip with a Labrador. Hence lack of activity here - I've been a) too busy and then b) too knackered. Great review of Gloriana's Torch in the Sunday Telegraph 30/11/03 which has just got to me. Jessica Mann says: "I loved Patricia Finney's 'Gloriana's Torch' (Orion), which concludes a trilogy set during Elizabethan England's wars with Spain. This is historical fiction at its most satisfying, a series of atmospheric spy thrillers with persuasive characters, unflinching realism and credible mysticism, in the tradition of the late, great Dorothy Dunnett." Muchos gracias, Jessica - I adore Dorothy Dunnett's work myself.
31/10/2003 Trip to London to see various people - including Ian Irvine, editor of The Independent on Sunday's Talk of the Town magazine, who took me to a press screening of 'Master & Commander: the Far Side of the World' starring Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany. IT'S BRILLIANT! It's a totally realistic fantastically exciting adventure based on the Jack Aubrey books - of which I've been a fan for years. Russell Crowe was born to play Jack Aubrey and the storm and the sea-battle and boarding at the end are awesome.
23/10/2003 Review from the Sunday Telegraph by Susanna Yager: "Patricia Finney's depiction of history is shockingly realistic, with all the brutality of the Elizabethan period. In Gloriana's Torch (Orion) she continues the adventures of the spy Simon Ames and his friend David Becket, retelling the Armada story from the perspective of her characters... a satisfying and powerful book." Now Ms Yager also felt that the dream sequences showing an alternate history of Spanish conquest slowed the early action. Others have said that these were their favourite bits - what do you think?
29/09/2003 IMPORTANT DATE (sorry it's at short notice) Tuesday 30th September I will be giving a talk and signing books at Ottakars bookshop, Truro. The talk is called: Guns and Dung - what's the connection? Which is more intimate than you might think, believe me! Any Cornish readers who want to come and heckle are very welcome - tickets on the door at £2 redeemable against the purchase price of signed books. I am the first and possibly the last stand-up historian - this is not history as they taught you in school, believe me. Hope to see you there.
23/09/2003 Many thanks to Dennis and Sandy - they hassled Ottakars, Portsmouth on my behalf to make sure they stocked 'Gloriana's Torch.'
15/09/2003 Great starred review in Kirkus Reviews (15 Sept 2003) - Gloriana's Torch comes out in the U.S. in November. "A richly imagined answer to a vexing question: Why did the mighty ships of the Spanish Armada fail in their mission? Finney, the Cambridge-educated author of dazzling Elizabethan-era historicals (Unicorn's Blood 2001) etc. swashbuckles right into the story... In an epilogue, Finney admits to making up some of the details, but who cares? This is fiction - and the gorgeous, carefully wrought prose carries all before it. Ambitious, engrossing, full of melodramatic thunder." Many thanks Kirkus - though as a fully-paid up pedant, I have to point out that Oxford takes the blame for my history degree, not Cambridge.
14/09/2003 CALLING ALL FANS! September 4th 2003 was the publication day in the UK of GLORIANA'S TORCH - the final installment of the trilogy of historical spy thrillers about David Becket and Simon Ames. This one has the Spanish Armada as a major character! It should now be in all good bookshops so people like you can buy it. If you want me to write more Elizabethan thrillers, this one has to sell - but it doesn't have "targeted" status with my publishers. That means it's down to you and me. If you find your local bookshop doesn't have Gloriana's Torch - look shocked, make a fuss, make them feel bad. Email me to let me know and I'll pass your email on to the publishers. GO, TROOPS, GO!
06/08/2003 Publication date for GLORIANA'S TORCH in the UK is 4th September. So what are you doing messing around on the Internet - go to your local bookshop and order it IMMEDIATELY!
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