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Showing posts from 2016

Farewell from the Unicorn

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This personal blog has been fun, but for reasons outlined below I feel it's time to let my unicorn muse trot back into the enchanted forest, where he is at his happiest spreading magic with nobody watching. So this post will be the last here at Reclusive Muse, although I will leave all past posts up for people to stumble across from time to time. ( Please note that to discourage spam all comments will be disabled ). I've organized the most useful material under page headings (see above), where you can find links to all the guest posts on this blog where other authors introduce their muses, access my now rather out-of-date series of posts about Kindle publishing, or read the story of a book in a series of posts about my Alexander the Great novel  I am the Great Horse . I started this blog as a creative outlet during a rather frustrating period without publishing contracts, when I had lost my lovely agent Maggie Noach to cancer and, as a result, my most obvious route to publi

A short tale of Queen Boudicca's rebellion

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The unicorn has been rather quiet this year, and there is a reason for that. My children's publisher Templar, who published my Pendragon Legacy quartet about King Arthur's daughter, was taken over by a bigger company who decided that they would no longer publish fiction. I wrote a sequel to Spellfall called Spell Spring and proposed it to my original publisher Chicken House (happily still publishing fiction) but they decided it was too late to resurrect the series. Needless to say, the unicorn got a bit disheartened by all this, went into a sulk and vanished into the enchanted mist. So in his absence I've been busy launching a signature list to showcase my historical fiction for older readers under the name 'Katherine A Roberts'. If you've been following this blog, you might already have noticed  The Legend of Genghis Khan , which is currently available as a trilogy of ebook novellas (Prince of Wolves, Bride of Wolves, Blood of Wolves). I am in discussion with

I am the Great Horse - new paperback edition!

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I'm delighted to announce that I am the Great Horse, my epic novel about Alexander the Great straight from the horse's mouth, is now available as a print on demand paperback: I am the Great Horse ISBN: 978-1539403944 amazon uk amazon us Find out how I created the cover for this paperback edition at Authors Electric: http://authorselectric.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/cheapfree-paperback-covers-for.html See more about this book on my website: www.katherineroberts.co.uk

Legend of Genghis Khan - free this week

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It has been an eventful day over in America and the rest of the world is watching to see what happens next, but think yourself lucky you were not living in Asia in the 12th Century, when a boy called Temujin was born on the Mongolian steppe clutching a fistful of blood. He grew up to become the feared Genghis Khan, whose empire stretched from China to Europe and was extended by his sons after his death to become four times the size of Alexander the Great's. For the rest of this week, you can read Temujin's story in his own words absolutely free: PRINCE OF WOLVES - FREE eBOOK (offer expires 13th November) Prince of Wolves is part one of my Legend of Genghis Khan trilogy being published under my middle initial 'Katherine A Roberts' for slightly older readers than my other books. For the rest of this week you can download parts 2 and 3 of the series - Bride of Wolves and Blood of Wolves - for only 99p in the UK, and either 99c or $1.99 in America (depending how

Souls Disturbed - an interview with Kath Middleton

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No, not the Duchess... this Kath Middleton writes books, and the unicorn is delighted to welcome her to this blog to talk about her seriously spooky new title  Souls Disturbed. KR: Is this your first venture into the dark side of fiction, or has this book grown out of earlier work? KM: It’s my first real trip over to The Dark Side, although my first book, Ravenfold , was thought to be quite dark, though not in the spooky sense. I’ve not explored the supernatural in previous work and I found myself ‘on a roll’ you might say. Souls Disturbed is a collection of three novellas and later this year I’ll be publishing a short story on a similar haunting theme. I think I’ve probably got it out of my system now. another spooky title from Kath Middleton KR: Hmm, I like that 'probably'... though be warned, once you've gone over to the dark side, it can be difficult to escape! Who is your favourite horror writer, and do you think he/she has had any influence on

A Treat for Halloween

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It's that time of the year again... the time of tricks and treats, when my Halloween title Spellfall  is on special offer for half term. Until October 31st, you can download the ebook (for Kindle, Nook, Apple or Kobo) for only 99c/99p: Kindle UK  /  Kindle US Nook Kobo Apple If you prefer to read a 'real' book, or would like to buy Spellfall as a gift, there is now a brand new paperback edition (which will get you the ebook for free if you buy it from amazon). And the treats don't stop there! If you have already enjoyed  Spellfall, the long-awaited sequel  Spell Spring is now out in both ebook and paperback, picking up the story six months later when Natalie is summoned to Earthaven to take her mother's seat on the Council of Oq: Kindle UK  /  Kindle US Nook Kobo Apple Paperback Please spread the word!

Farewell to the Great Big Rhinos!

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Chill winds from the sea have sent waves crashing over the promenade this week, and the dogs are back on the beach... all signs that summer is over, and so is my Great Big Rhino hunt. I tracked down my final rhino at Exeter's Bernaville Nurseries on my third attempt to access the west side of the city... who would have thought a few extra miles would prove so complicated? The first time, I tried to catch a bus from the city centre but waited at the wrong stop... or maybe the bus was stuck in traffic... and had to dash back to the station for my train home. My second attempt to drive my mum out for lunch at the garden centre ended in failure when we met a massive traffic jam into the city, where apparently an accident had blocked the road. Lunch would have stopped serving by the time we got there, so we turned around and went somewhere else. The third time I chose a Sunday (hoping for less traffic - ha!) and put up with a slow crawl around the ring road to reach the garden cen

A rhino-eye's view of Exeter

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Usually my unicorn is the only horned creature allowed to post on this blog. But, just for this week, he's allowed his real-world cousins the rhinos to take over... So why are we all here in Exeter? Well, it's the last few days of Paignton Zoo's Great Big Rhinos Trail , and we're actually quite glad we're city rhinos with the cold winds blowing in from the coast today. There are 16 of us altogether, making 40 along with our brothers and sisters down in Torbay, though we're one short now because poor Paladin could not return to his post in front of Exeter Central station after getting knocked off his plinth by some high-spirited students last week. We've been very popular with visitors, especially children, so maybe it's no surprise some famous children's authors visited us too. Here they are posing with Finding Faru in Southernhay Gardens... yes, they spotted little Faru! CJ Busby and Sandra Greaves... looking for Faru Found him! One o

A poem for Paladin - AWOL rhino!

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Where's Paladin...? As you might have guessed by now (see previous two posts), I am busy hunting down all 42 rhinos on Paignton Zoo's  Great Big Rhino Trail. Having found the 24 Torbay and district rhinos, I finally made it to Exeter in search of the other 16 currently in Devon... only to be confronted with a big space outside Central station where my first city rhino - Paladin - should have stood: ...gone AWOL! A spot of amateur sleuthing later (interrogating the unfortunate ticket attendant at the station barrier - sorry! - and later the helpful staff in the tourist office who directed me to a difficult to find rhino in the shopping centre) revealed the sad fact Paladin had suffered an attack last week by students who knocked him off his plinth, and as a consequence has been returned to Paignton Zoo for repair before the auction. I couldn't even find his plinth, though without a rhino standing on it that's merely a concrete slab ( plus the code for the dra

Rhino Hunting - part 2

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I am learning quite a lot on my rhino hunt (Paignton Zoo's Great Big Rhino Trail  - see previous post). 1. Don't assume you know your own town. Louis-the-Rhino took quite a bit of finding! He's Torbay's moving rhino named after Louis Tiffany, creator of the stained glass lamps, and I never even knew the "secret watery path" up from the zoo existed until I had to look for him. Luckily, I'd already tried out the new cycle track at the  Torbay Velo Park  so that gave me a clue... Louis is bigger than my bike! 2. Even large, colourful rhinos can be difficult to spot if they are standing in busy surroundings. Here is Paignton's very own How Many in the middle of town, and bright and beautiful Herby hiding in the bus station - I walked right past him once and had to return at a quieter time for the photo. "How!" Herby waiting for a bus. 3. Sometimes you have to be willing to go the extra mile. These two rhinos at Kingsw