Writers at the Gate is delighted to bring Heather Robinson and her latest book, ‘Wall of Stones’, to the blog as part of the blog tour hosted by Mary-Anne Yarde at the Coffee Pot Book Club.
Read on to find out more…
About the book…
In AD121 the Twentieth Legion of Rome stands at
the northern frontier of Britannia. Forgotten, neglected and dour in spirit,
they must still do their duty for an Empire whose meaning is becoming lost to
them.
As the lives of the local Teviot family
intertwine with the legion, relationships of love and bitter anguish unfurl. Will
the invading army push north? Will the disputing native tribes unite in an
uprising? Can Marcus be with Jolinda?
When peace is fragile, friendships
count for everything...
· Author: Heather Robinson
· Publication Date: 23rd August 2014
· Publisher: Independently Published
· Page Length: 366 Pages
· Genre: Historical Fiction
Buy Links:
Universal Link: mybook.to/WallofStone
This book is available on #KindleUnlimited.
About the author...
Heather Robinson is a novelist and short
story award winner from Wiltshire, UK.
Her academic background includes a Bachelor of Science degree with most
of her working life spent as an Administration Manager locally. She is also a qualified and experienced radio
presenter, hosting a weekly show for Warminster Community Radio. Proud parents of two boys, Heather and her
husband Graham share a passion for live music, hiking and motorcycling.
Social
Media Links:
Website: hevgraham.wixsite.com/books
Twitter: https://twitter.com/HevRob1
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/heather.robinson.908579
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heather.robinson.908579/?hl=en
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Heather-Robinson/e/B01N9S07M2
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14141740.Heather_Robinson
Twitter Handle: @HevRob1 @maryanneyarde
Instagram Handles: @heather.robinson.908579
@coffeepotbookclub
Hashtags: #HistoricalFiction
#AncientRome #BlogTour #CoffeePotBookClub
Tour Schedule
Page: https://www.coffeepotbookclub.com/post/blog-tour-wall-of-stone-by-heather-robinson-august-18th-october-20th-2021
Brief Interview…
Wall of Stone is new to the world of blog touring (this is its first and my first, it's all very exciting) but not newly released. I began writing it in 2006 after a family holiday to Hadrian's Wall and publication was in 2014. Eight years of love went into completing this novel, although I was only writing one day a week back then, and not every week either. Family and work commitments had to come first. If you boil it down, it was approximately a year of writing and research spread over eight years. I didn't mind the long-timescale but enjoy being able to spend more time on my writing now that other commitments have lessened.
What was the inspiration behind the book?
Twin inspirations started me off – the brilliance of Simon Scarrow's Roman Eagle series and a family holiday to Hadrian's Wall. I was missing Scarrow's characters Cato and Macro, impatient for him to release another book you could say, so thought I would create my own legionaries to care about to fill the void.
This idea coincided with our trip north where I soaked up everything Roman and the facts I learned gave me the framework I needed. That's what historical fiction is: researching the facts and filling the gaps with the everyday story of the characters you create.
Can you describe your route to publication from concept to completed novel?
Research...plotting...writing...ongoing research...continued plotting and writing to completion of the first draft.
Editing...editing...editing until I had a final draft that I was happy with.
Formatting...proofreading...cover designing...and finally publishing via KDP (Amazon's platform for Indie authors).
Despite a lot of head-scratching, I enjoyed every aspect of the process.
What ideas do you have for any future books?
A sequel to Wall of Stone is in the research phase. The working title is Lavendula but that may well change. I haven't been idle since the release of Wall of Stone, in case you're wondering! Juno's Peacock is recently published. A slave girl who escaped Pompeii when Mount Vesuvius exploded in AD79 had a story she wanted told. Her journey takes her to Puteoli and Roma and I have a whim to link this novel to Wall of Stone in Lavendula somehow. My thinking cap is on!
Which publishing services (if any) would you recommend?
I've not used any publishing services
but The Coffee Pot Book Club was recommended to me for taking Wall of Stone on
this blog tour. They have been superb to work with on this and they offer a
publishing service too, which I'm sure would be just as well organised and
helpful.
