A handful of historical authors brave the wilds of unusual settings, times, and characters to create distinctive, exciting novels just outside of the mainstream. Join us as we chronicle the trials and rewards of our quest - from research and writing to publication and establishing lasting careers.
Contact Carrie to provide your mailing address. The book must be claimed by next Sunday or another winner will be drawn. Please stop back later to let us know what you thought! Congratulations!
The cover of Blythe Gifford's HIS BORDER BRIDE is now available--and it's gorgeous! We'll have more information soon.
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Join us Sunday when Unusual Historicals will chat with contributor Michelle Styles. She'll be discussing her latest US release, SOLD & SEDUCED, set in ancient Rome! She'll also be giving away a copy. Don't miss it!
And stay with us through the coming weeks when we'll be featuring the best unusual historical authors! Carla Capshaw, Jennifer Linforth, Amanda McCabe, and Sandra Hill will be our guests. We hope you'll join us!
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Have a good weekend! Remember, you don't have to be an Unusual Historicals contributor to submit good news to the weekend announcements. If it has to do with unusual historicals, we'd love to shout it out to the world! Send announcements to Carrie. See you next week...
This week on Unusual Historicals, we're welcoming regular contributor Zoe Archer as she celebrates the release of the duology she shares with Bianca D'Arc called HALF PAST DEAD, which features Zoe's historical novella "The Undying Heart," a daring historical paranormal set during the Crimean War and in 1850s Yorkshire.
Samuel Reed had no idea magic existed, until it almost destroyed him. Thirsting for vengeance against the enemy who made him something less than human, Sam returns to England and crosses paths with Cassandra Fielding. His best friend's little sister has become a fearless woman on a dangerous mission of her own. And against all odds, she sees past what he's become, and stirs a desire he thought he'd lost forever...
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"Two...novellas combine themes of love and zombies. Vintage horror, high adventure, and soul-aching romance blend in Archer's compelling 'The Undying Heart,' prequel to the upcoming BLADES OF THE ROSE series.... Readers [will] love Archer's powerful, polished tale." -- Publisher's Weekly
"Four Stars! These zombie stories stand out in a genre dominated by vampires. The two tales of lovers reunited feature strong, courageous women who won't let zombies stand in the way of getting their man. Archer's imaginative and unusual tale will have you cheering for the characters, while D'Arc delivers a creepy and pulse-pounding story of danger." -- Romantic Times
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What makes "The Undying Heart" unusual?
A few things. It's set in England, in 1858, two years after the Crimean War. Our hero, Major Sam Reed, is a veteran of that war, which has become famous as one of the most messy and problematic conflicts in Europe. You've got England, France, the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Sardinia in alliance against Russia, fighting not only each other, but tactical mistakes on a monumental scale and horrific conditions that resulted in huge numbers of fatalities from illness, not combat. Sam and his men are killed in the attack on the Redan in the Siege of Sebastopol.
Wait--Sam is killed? Isn't he the hero?
That's one of the other things that makes "The Undying Heart" unusual. Sam has been transformed into the living dead.
So he's a zombie?
He prefers the term "living dead."
Isn't that kind of…gross?
Our culture has been conditioned to think of zombies as shuffling, rotting corpses that hunger for human flesh. But that's a pretty recent development in the concept of zombies. Sam is much more rooted in the vodou tradition of the zombie: a revived dead (and sometimes not dead) person under the control of a sorcerer, or bokor. In Sam's case, the man who killed, revived and controlled him is his former commanding officer. Sam has managed to break free of Colonel Broadwell's hold, and now he wants revenge, both for himself and the men that Broadwell betrayed.
But Sam's still dead, right?
Yep. He's got no pulse and no heartbeat. He doesn't sleep and doesn't eat. He can sustain any wound except a bullet to the brain or beheading. Even though he isn't a rotting corpse, there's still something deeply uncanny about him that unsettles people on a subconscious level, so he sticks to the shadows, existing only to make Broadwell pay. Sam considers himself a monster. However, Cassandra Fielding doesn't see him that way.
Who's Cassandra?
She's a gently-born young woman who campaigns for factory reform. But she's got a secret life, far from drawing rooms and factory yards. Cassandra is also a member of the Blades of the Rose, an organization of men and women protecting the world's magic from unscrupulous men who would use that magic for their own malevolent purposes--like creating an undead army. Cassandra also grew up with Sam. Her brother Charlie was Sam's best friend, and she's nursed a crush on Sam for years. Her heart breaks when she hears that Charlie and Sam are killed in combat, and when she learns from Sam that it was their commanding officer who betrayed them using stolen magic, she, too wants vengeance. They join forces to try and stop Broadwell's plans to make more undead soldiers.
Cassandra is shocked and angry about what has been done to Sam, but she can see past the curse surrounding him to the man beneath, the man she never stopped caring for. And, trust me, Sam might not have a pulse, but he isn't unaffected by Cassandra. Far from it.
Wow--I never thought I'd read about a zombie, sorry, undead hero.
I never expected to write one! But my editor asked if I'd like to contribute to a zombie-themed anthology, HALF PAST DEAD. At first I thought I would have the hero and heroine battling zombies together, but then I thought, wouldn't it be really, really unusual if our hero was already dead? And it went on from there.
What's next? More zombies?
Not exactly. "The Undying Heart" is the prequel to my upcoming "BLADES OF THE ROSE" series, coming this fall from Kensington. The series is set in 1874-1875, and the setting are really unusual. We're talking Mongolia, the Aegean, the Canadian Rockies, and some of the more unusual parts of England. The series is paranormal historical adventure romance, which means there are lots of chases, action sequences, sexy guys in leather braces and tall boots, fearless women, magic, steampunk gadgets, superhot love scenes and thrills. If you like Indiana Jones films, or The Mummy, or Romancing the Stone, you're going to love the "BLADES OF THE ROSE." Zombies might make another appearance, but I'm not saying when or where.
One of the best parts about the series is that the books are being released back-to-back, which means that WARRIOR comes out in September, then SCOUNDREL in October, REBEL in November, and it wraps up with STRANGER in December. No waiting!
The "BLADES OF THE ROSE" do sound unusual!
They are. And they're tons of fun. Can't wait for fall!
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If you'd like to win a copy of HALF PAST DEAD, featuring Zoe's "The Undying Heart," then leave a comment or question here. Maybe let us know your feeling about zombies, or try the historical angle and ask about the Crimean War! Either way, you're entered with just a comment. Void where prohibited. We'll draw a winner next Sunday. Best of luck! And thanks to Zoe for stopping by!
SCOUNDREL'S KISS has also garnered a few more excellent reviews. Elizabeth of Scandalous Women said, "It's been a long time since I was sad to see a historical romance end, but I wasn't quite ready to leave the world of SCOUNDREL'S KISS." Book Junkie wrote, "With both of the characters learning how to live again with the love for each other...you can't help but be mesmerized by the beautiful poetry that Carrie has created," while Wendy the Super Librarian declared, "Historical romance needs more risk-takers like Lofty."
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Elizabeth Lane has received the cover of her upcoming March release, THE HORSEMAN'S BRIDE, which is set in 1919.
A magnificent man on a splendid stallion. Fiery Clara Seavers is determined to have them both. At nineteen, Clara is accustomed to getting her own way. But there's more to the handsome stranger than meets the eye. Jace Denby is a man of deep and troubling secrets--a man who can never promise her his love.
Clara is a rich man's daughter. Jace knows she's trouble, but he can't seem to keep his hands off her, especially when Clara seems so willing. It would be all too easy to fall in love with her. But Jace is a man on the run--a man who has to keep moving or die at the end of a rope.
We'll be featuring Elizabeth's book during a March promo, so keep an eye out!
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Join us Sunday when Unusual Historicals will chat with contributor Zoe Archer. She'll be discussing her latest release, the novella "The Undying Heart" in HALF PAST DEAD, a daring historical paranormal set during the Crimean War and in 1850s Yorkshire! She'll also be giving away a copy. Don't miss it!
And stay with us through the coming weeks when we'll be featuring the best unusual historical authors! Michelle Styles, Carla Capshaw, Jennifer Linforth, and Amanda McCabe will be our guests. We hope you'll join us!
***
Have a good weekend! Remember, you don't have to be an Unusual Historicals contributor to submit good news to the weekend announcements. If it has to do with unusual historicals, we'd love to shout it out to the world! Send announcements to Carrie. See you next week...
This week on Excerpt Thursday we're featuring a scene from Zoe Archer's newest release, "The Undying Heart" from the duology HALF PAST DEAD, a daring historical paranormal set during the Crimean War and in 1850s Yorkshire.
Stop back on Sunday when Zoe will be answering questions and giving away an autographed copy!
Samuel Reed had no idea magic existed, until it almost destroyed him. Thirsting for vengeance against the enemy who made him something less than human, Sam returns to England and crosses paths with Cassandra Fielding. His best friend's little sister has become a fearless woman on a dangerous mission of her own. And against all odds, she sees past what he's become, and stirs a desire he thought he'd lost forever...
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He stared at her, and there was a tiny, nearly imperceptible gentling, even though his face lost none of its striking angularity. "I cannot understand you." His voice was low, smoky. She felt herself drawn closer. "Why are you not sickened by what I've said? How can you bear the sight of me, knowing what I am and what I've done? Aren't you horrified?"
"Make no mistake," she answered. "Everything you've told me, it's torn me open, down to the heart of me." She curled a fist over the center of her chest. "Yet, despite it all, I know you, Samuel Acton Reed. I know you. And I'll never turn away from you."
"Clinging to the past," he muttered, yet his gaze warmed.
Was she? Were her girlhood dreams manipulating her woman's judgment? Perhaps she so desperately wanted the fantasy she had created in her youth, she willingly overlooked evidence that could shatter such finely-wrought constructs. This man before her was not Sam, not as she knew him, and, by his own admission, he'd done terribly, ghastly things. He had been killed and rose again as the living dead.
And yet, gazing into his diamond-blue eyes, that seemed to yearn without knowing they did, the instinct on which she so assiduously relied told her no. He'd undergone the most profound change possible, alive, then dead, and then this awful amalgam of both. The things he had been forced to do…no wonder he had to cauterize his emotions. Anyone would have been turned into a true monster from such suffering. But not him. Not Sam.
"I've cut free from the moorings of the past," she said, taking his cool hand between her two warm palms. "The current of the present has brought us together now."
He stared down at their joined hands--his large and roughened from soldiering, hers smaller and slender, but stronger, she hoped, than they appeared. She inwardly grimaced to see slight crescents of grease under her nails, but she'd only just returned from inspecting a cotton mill when the Blades' summons came. No time for washing up, she'd dashed back out the door.
If now he saw the grime on her hand, he didn't seem to care. For a moment, his hand lay motionless in hers, but then, very slightly, his thumb rubbed against her wrist. A shiver ran through her, sparking sensation. They both glanced up at each other, and their gazes held with a new awareness.
The years between 1875 and 1915 have often been referred to as the Age of Empire. Many nations sought to expand their sphere of power and wealth by slicing the world up into colonial regions. Of all the nations involved in this "imperialism," as the term came to be known--the United States, Russia, Belgium, Japan, Italy, the Netherlands, France--the most nation with the largest empire was Great Britain.
Queen Victoria celebrated her Diamond Jubilee in 1897, and at that time, one quarter of the world's entire population lived within the confines of her Empire.
How was it that Great Britain came to dominate the global political landscape? There are many answers, yet one factor cannot be ignored: the British soldier.
If a young Englishman wanted to see the world, he had no better option than to either purchase a commission for or enlist in one of two branches of the British military: the Army and the Navy. In some cases, as (somewhat disastrously) in India, soldiers might be recruited from the indigenous population, but many of the soldiers came from Great Britain.
Most men who served spent the majority of their service outside of England. They might be posted to India, Egypt, Fiji, Sierra Leone, Canada or the Virgin Islands. But no matter where a British soldier might find himself, he was taught above all that Britain, and the British way of life, far surpassed anything any other country or populace had to offer. Military posts recreated enclaves of Englishness, particularly in the officers' quarters, and discouraged soldiers from "going native" and mixing with indigenous cultures and people.
Officers held the most glamorous positions within the imperial army. Commissions were purchased--often for younger sons of the aristocracy--and the price varied depending on the regiment. A cavalry posting ran up to £800 and could include overseas duty as well as short sojourns in England. If an officer was ambitious, he would request a regimental posting in some hazardous and unstable part of the Empire. This ensured he would be promoted far more quickly, and cheaply, than buying a promotion.
But officers comprised a small percentage of the British military. Enlisted men provided Great Britain with the necessary manpower to maintain its massive Empire. In 1870, the basic period of enlistment was twelve years. A young man might join a regiment at eighteen, but boy-soldiers were not uncommon, signing on at age fifteen and then formally joining three years later.
Enlisted men were not a respected group, often disdained by the general British public. They were drawn from the ranks of the rural poor, and sometimes criminals were offered the choice between gaol or military service. A soldier's life meant hardship: poor pay, little privacy, severe discipline, endless drills, occasional hostile natives and exposure to exotic ailments. Still, for many men, "taking the shilling" offered more opportunity than struggling to eke out a living in an increasingly industrialized England.
Not all enlisted soldiers suffered. Some rose in the ranks through exemplary service and learning skills such as telegraphy--an important ability when the British Empire relied heavily on telegraphs to keep abreast of latest developments. Small numbers of enlisted men were permitted to take a wife, and noncommissioned sergeants could also marry. Children of these marriages frequently became soldiers themselves.
Two British soldiers appear in my upcoming "Blades of the Rose" series. In "The Undying Heart," part of the HALF PAST DEAD anthology (Brava; 01/2010), Major Samuel Reed is a veteran of the Crimea. Gabriel Huntley, the hero of WARRIOR (Zebra; 09/2010), is a rare officer who rises through the ranks, posted in both India and what would be known as Ethiopia. Both of these men are profoundly shaped by their experiences serving in Queen Victoria's army. I was fascinated to discover their stories, as well as the stories of the thousands and thousands of military men who helped create the massive and powerful British Empire.
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