Woking Authors Meet

Woking authors who participated in the first online Woking Writers Week were able to meet in the flesh for the first time on Sunday 3 October for a special gathering to promote their latest titles. All had previously showcased their work here at ‘Writers at the Gate’ back in May. 

Since its recent opening, The Lionsheart book and coffee shop in Commercial Way, Woking has been stocking copies of their titles in its dedicated ‘Local Author’ section and the writers were out in force to show their appreciation. 

Lelita Baldock, who arranged the meeting said, ‘It was great to bring such talent together and share our experiences as authors.’ Her new novel, Where the Gulls Fall Silent is out soon with her other titles, Widow’s Lace and The Unsound Sister currently available through Amazon. 

The Asylum Soul author, Mal Foster, said, ‘The meeting proved there is a wealth of talent in the town. Here, we have the nucleus to kick things forward with a view to arranging further events that will enable us to promote our books.' Mal’s new novel, Fluke’s Cradle is due out in the Spring. 

Pictured are Sunny Angel, author of Wings. Lelita Baldock, Mal Foster, Sue Mackender, author of Girl on the Hill, and poet, Greg Freeman, whose latest collection, Marples Must Go! is out now.  

Note: This item also appeared in The Woking News & Mail, 07 October 2021   

Blog Tour : Heather Robinson and her novel, 'Wall of Stone''

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…

When did you start writing your new book? 

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.

 

Lionsheart Bookshop - Woking

I'm pleased to advise that the new Lionsheart Bookshop in Woking has started stocking books by local authors.

The shop at 67 Commercial Way, which also offers coffee, teas and cakes is taking books on a sale or return basis in an initiative to support the work of local writers.

Lelita Baldock, author of 'The Unsound Sister' and 'Widow's Lace'  

Look out for titles from Sunny Angel, Lelita Baldock, Alan Dale, Mal Foster, Greg Freeman, Jacquelyn Luben, Sue Mackender, Harriett Steel and more. 

Bookshop Contact email : bookshop@lionsheart.uk 

Special Guest : Greg Freeman and his poetry collection, 'Marples Must Go!'

Anyone for poetry? I am absolutely delighted to welcome poet, Greg Freeman and his collection of poems, ‘Marples Must Go!’ to Writers at the Gate.

Read on to find out more…

About the book… 

A mysterious slogan on a bridge across the M1 that remained there for decades denounced a 1960s transport minister who had a finger in the pie of motorway building, and oversaw Beeching’s vandalism of Britain’s railways. Ernest Marples was a politician on the make who also liked to be chastised while wearing women’s clothing. Greg Freeman’s wry and bemused poems meander around this and other subjects such as free school milk, Juke Box Jury, Space Patrol, and the curious appeal of Andy Williams, as well as the first proper sentence of a two-year-old child: ‘Jack see Mrs Thatcher.’ As the years go by, the poet finds himself remembering the cartoon comic heroes of Beano and Dandy, picturing what might have happened to them in later life, and wondering plaintively: ‘Why can’t life still be hilarious?’  

 
About the author… 

Greg Freeman is a former newspaper sub-editor, and now the news and reviews editor for the poetry website Write Out Loud. His debut pamphlet collection, Trainspotters, was published by Indigo Dreams in 2015. He co-runs a monthly open mic poetry night in Woking, Surrey. He watched the second half of England's World Cup drubbing against Germany in a pub in Ludlow with the-then poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy; and with hundreds of others, contributed vocals on Chuck Berry's no 1 hit, My Ding-A-Ling.

 

BUY THE BOOK
(Publisher's Website)

 

Brief Interview…
 

When did you start writing your new book? 

Some of the poems were written several years ago, and some much more recently. I started assembling the collection around the back end of last year, and it was accepted for publication early in 2021. Many of the poems were 'road-tested' at Woking Writers Circle and at Write Out Loud Woking open-mic poetry night, which used to meet at the Lightbox gallery in Woking, and has been sharing poems on Zoom since May 2020. (We hope to return to the Lightbox at the end of September, but to carry on with Zoom as well)  

What was the inspiration behind the book? 

The title poem refers to a dodgy Tory politician from the 1960s. It's not for me to comment if anyone thinks there are any parallels today. There are other political poems in the book - politics is one of my interests - but the subject matter stretches far beyond that to encompass 60s pop music, football, newspapers, the Sean Henry sculptures in Woking town centre - and, of course, Covid. 

What ideas do you have for any future books? 

I hope this doesn't sound too morbid, but I recently had to have two surgical procedures to treat my angina. I've already written quite a long poem about that process and would hope to include it in a future collection.  

Which publishing services (if any) would you recommend? 

My first poetry publisher was Indigo Dreams, which produced my debut pamphlet Trainspotters in 2015. Guildford-based poetry publishers Dempsey & Windle have produced my first full collection Marples Must Go! Both publishers work very hard, publish lots of books, run competitions as well, and in my case have come up with two smashing covers that I have been delighted with. Janice and Donall and D&W even run their own monthly poetry open-mic night in Guildford - and have been doing so since 2010, I believe.