I've just seen the Netflix series All The Light We Cannot See, based on the novel by Anthony Doerr which is sitting on my bookcase. It has tempted me to read and/or reread some novels based in WWII.
Does anyone have any recommendations of novels based historically in or around WWII?
For #AltTextCoverDay, here’s the cover of my latest novel. I asked the new Be My Eyes AI to describe it, so I’ve used that as the Alt text description. I have never seen the cover myself, but it sounds as if my huge team of designers produced something pretty much like I’d asked for. #BeMyAI is very impressive, as you’ll hear from the detailed description. #Books#Writing #HistoricalFiction
James Leslie Mitchell (1901–1935), better known as Lewis Grassic Gibbon, was born #OTD, 13 Feb. Author of SUNSET SONG – & many other titles from #HistoricalFiction to #ScienceFiction – he is one of the most important #Scottish writers of the #20thcentury
#WritingWonders June 8: How are weddings celebrated in your WIP world?
There were three types of weddings in ancient Rome (which obviously carries over to Pompeii). An excellent overview may be found at the link below, which covers not only the types of weddings but also the expected/appropriate clothing, ring, etc.
George MacDonald Fraser (1925–2008) – author, historian, journalist, screenwriter – was born #OTD, 2 April, 1925
“His dedication to strongly researched stories, built firmly on a bedrock of historical fact, but always with an eye to the humour of a situation, was the core of what appealed to me”
Historical novelist Michael Jecks discusses George MacDonald Fraser’s writing for the Royal Literary Fund:
“Michael Dunn has created the characters that bring the 19th Century's Mine Wars to life for today's readers. Anywhere but Schuylkill will remind readers of John Sayles and Tillie Olsen and the best in the long tradition of labor literature.”
—James Tracy, co-author of Hillbilly Nationalists, Urban Race Rebels and Black Power: Interracial Solidarity in 1960s-70s New Left Organizing
Today in Labor and Writing History July 10, 1925: The Scopes "Monkey Trial" Trial began in Dayton, Tennessee. John T. Scopes was a high school science teacher accused of violating the Butler Act, which made it unlawful to teach human evolution in any state-funded school. Scopes was found guilty and fined $100, but the verdict was overturned on a technicality. Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee wrote about it in their play “Inherit the Wind” (1955). However, they said that their play was a response to the McCarthy anticommunist witch hunt and a statement in support of free speech. Ronald Kidd's 2006 novel, “Monkey Town: The Summer of the Scopes Trial,” was also based on the Scopes Trial. Scopes was defended by labor Clarence Darrow, who had defended Eugene Debs, during the Pullman strike (1893); and Big Bill Haywood against false murder charges (1905); and the McNamara brothers for the false charges in the L.A. Times bombing (1910).
Today in Labor History August 25, 1819: Allan Pinkerton was born. He founded the Pinkerton private police force, whose strike breaking detectives (Pinkertons, or 'Pinks') slaughtered dozens of workers in various labor struggles. Ironically, Pinkerton was a violent, radical leftist as a youth. He fought cops in the streets as a member of the Chartist Movement. He had to flee the UK in order to not be imprisoned and executed. Yet in America, he became the nation’s first super cop. He created the secret service. He foiled an assassination attempt against Lincoln. He fine-tuned the art of spying on activists and planting agents provocateur in their ranks. His agents played a major role in destroying the miners’ union in the 1870s, as portrayed in my novel, “Anywhere But Schuylkill.” Later, they assassinated numerous organizers with the IWW and came within inches of successfully getting Big Bill Hayward convicted on trumped up murder charges.
I'm reading "He Who Drowned The World," the sequel to Shelley Parker-Chan's epic fantasy about the end of the Yuan Mongol dynasty. I have three words: LADY RIVER PIRATES
“In the tradition of Upton Sinclair and Jack London, Michael Dunn gives us a gritty portrait of working-class life and activism during one of the most violent eras in U.S. labor history. Anywhere but Schuylkill is a social novel built out of passion and the textures of historical research. It is both a tale of 1870s labor unrest and a tale for the inequalities and injustices of the twenty-first century.”
-Russ Castronovo, author of Beautiful Democracy and Propaganda 1776.
Available on Sep 19, 2023, from all the usual online distributors, or direct from my publisher: http://wix.to/M9gMx11
I’ve just finished this very enjoyable, pan-historical garden fantasy (is garden fantasy a genre? It is now!), ‘Threading the Labyrinth’ by Tiffani Angus.
#WritingWonders Day 7/6 - (MC) Name one thing that is guaranteed to make you angry.
Erik: seeing my plans thwarted, or someone I love threatened.
Excerpt: “They hurt my horses, Erik ... and wanted me dead.” My voice was deep with anger.
For his part, Erik paced the room, cloak swirling about his ankles. “They will pay dearly for this,” he announced, depressing the mechanism for the mirrored door. “I will return to you tonight ... my love.”
With that, he was gone, the endearment hanging in the air even as the secret door slid shut behind him.
I've paused #ElConde as I've decided it's too heady for my tired body, but damn am I engrossed in this #Pinochet as a vampire conceit. I even had some wine. Turns out, it's a family dramedy about the rich. I'm at the point where the Nun/accountant looks at the books. Might put on the new #MikeFlanagan before my slumber. #TV#movies#Netflix#villains#HistoricalFiction#history#eattherich before they eat you. :ablobcatneon: #spooktober
We're just two weeks from release day for "Pompeii Fire" ... and a lot of my promo plans went out the window because we're nursing a litter of sick kittens. They've all turned the corner now, though there are still some days with eye medicine ahead of us. At least we're done with the antibiotics -- to which I developed an allergy, so that's been no fun, either! That's okay; the important thing is to get these babies better.
I do want to let you know that there's still plenty of time to pre-order the book via your favorite retailer.
The battle of #Culloden was fought #OTD, 16 April 1746. It has, unsurprisingly, left a significant imprint in the literature & culture of Scotland. A short 🧵
1/8
John Buchan called FLEMINGTON—Violet Jacob’s 1911 novel of the 1745 #Jacobite rising & aftermath—“the best Scots #romantic novel since The Master of Ballantrae”