Update

I'm nearing the end of the hard part of my breast cancer battle. I started six months of chemotherapy in early September, and I now have three weeks left. I think this has been the hardest battle of my life. The first three months were the most difficult with the harsh chemo, and the last three months were supposed to get easier. In some ways they are easier, but in other ways it is just as hard.

During this enforced down time I have had a lot of time to think about my writing. My brain is too scattered and fatigued to do any actual writing. Instead I've been posting something called the "WOW" at my Facebook page. Basically it's an expanded synopsis, only I'm not giving away endings. There have been a lot of excerpts though. I started with The King's Tale, and I am now working on The King's Heart. One decision I have made is that as soon as my head clears I intend to pick up work on the third book in The King's Trilogy, The King's Son. This is mainly because sales for "Blue Moon" and "Red Sunset" have fallen off. Unfortunately I've realized two things about those books, I should have waited and published them as a full-fledged novel (along with the planned third novella in that series "Purple Dawn"). "Blue Moon" seemed to be well received, but "Red Sunset" was born into chaos, and I believe it is completely misunderstood. So, the project is shelved for the time being.

While on the subject of chaos, I once stumbled over some discussion of my work on an Amazon discussion thread. I've fortunately never been able to find this discussion again because some fairly mean things were said about me, and my work. Primarily the one contributor seemed to think that The King's Tale was perfect the way it was, and I was purposely torturing my characters by continuing the saga of Christopher and Dafydd. Okay, that's one person's opinion, but I had always meant to continue the story, even as I toiled away on The King's Tale. In my mind it isn't torture at all. This contributor went on the say my contemporary work all sucks. Well, that hurt.

The King's Son will be the story of Anwyll, and Christopher and Dafydd will suffer no more torture at my hands. Or not much anyway. When I read my notes for how I intend to end the book I suppose it might come across as torturous...but that remains to be seen.

I sincerely hope to dive into my writing once summer comes. That is going to be my reward to myself for staying strong through this cancer turmoil.

News on Reviews...

First of all, let me share a terrific five star review for Red Sunset from Top2Bottom Reviews:

http://top2bottomreviews.wordpress.com/2013/05/01/red-sunset-by-rowena-sudbury/

And secondly, I was remiss in mentioning that The King's Tale & The King's Heart received a high honor from Two Lips reviews, both are marked as Recommended Reads!

http://www.twolipsreviews.com/content/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8896&Itemid=67

http://www.twolipsreviews.com/content/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8934&Itemid=67

Year End Reflections on Writing

As 2012 comes to a close, I spend a bit of time reflecting on writing here .

Historical Romances

Stop by to read some thoughts on The King's Tale as well as an excerpt of The King's Heart.

Click Here...

Happy Anniversary!

Today is the third anniversary of the release of the first edition of The King's Tale. I'm hosting a giveaway at GoodReads for an autographed copy of The King's Heart...and I will include a copy of The King's Tale when I send the book out to the winner. Stop by and read my meager thoughts on the day.

Third Anniversary thoughts on The King's Tale

Release Day!

It's release day for The King's Tale, edition two, and The King's Heart!

Stop by here for more information!

The King's Tale Fan Page

I have created a fan page on Facebook for The King's Tale series. Today I posted an excerpt from edition 2 of The King's Tale.

Please stop by and "like" the page if you're interested in reading further excerpts. I plan to post all excerpts on that page (for King's Tale books) from now on. Monday, the day The King's Heart releases, I will post an excerpt from that book.

Additionally, I plan to hold a giveaway on July 27, the third anniversary of the release of The King's Tale. Still working out the details, but the winner will be drawn from fans of the page.

http://www.facebook.com/TheKingsTale

Thanks!

The King's Tale, Edition Two

New for 2012, The King's Tale has been re-edited and revised to include a glossary and pronunciation guide for all the Welsh words used. Additionally, a few of the historical inaccuracies have been corrected -- "bed springs" are finally changed back to "bed strings" how I had originally written. I've also done some further research, and corrected some of the problems with the food mentioned. All in all, I'm quite pleased to have my first book go into its second edition!

It is now available for pre-order at Amazon, and it will release on Monday June 11, 2012. On that same day, the sequel, The King's Heart, will also be releasing.

In thirteenth century Cornwall, a fierce king must have a strong partner, and that is what King Christopher of Lysnowydh has in his handfasted mate. Or had before rival King Warin kidnapped and tortured Dafydd to the point that, months later, he is still afraid to leave the castle. Christopher longs for Dafydd to accompany him to the other strongholds in his kingdom and to London to pay tribute to Henry III, but Dafydd is not ready. Christopher begins to wonder if Dafydd will ever recover.

Dafydd hates to disappoint his lover, but he is not sure what to do. Since he will not leave the keep, he renounces his position as king's marshal, vowing to focus on the healing arts instead. Though Christopher continues to pressure him to travel, Dafydd staunchly stays at home—until his second sight shows him he could lose Christopher if he cannot face his fears. Determinedly, Dafydd sets out to prove he can master them.

When Christopher returns home to find Dafydd gone, he knows exactly what Dafydd must have seen. As he once promised he would, he follows his heart across his kingdom—but even if he finds Dafydd, he may not be able to heal the rift between them. 

A Timeless Dreams title: While reaction to same-sex relationships throughout time and across cultures has not always been positive, these stories celebrate M/M love in a manner that may address, minimize, or ignore historical stigma.

This book will be available at Amazon, but it is available for pre-order at Dreamspinner Press

The King's Heart

Coming from Dreamspinner Press on June 11, 2012: The King's Heart, sequel for The King's Tale.

Additionally, The King's Tale has been re-edited and revised to include a pronunciation guide and glossary, and it will also be available on June 11. Some of the historical inaccuracies have been corrected.

Use this link for The King's Heart. And if you're interested in reading my journey about this project, use this link.

The King's Heart

Stop by and read about The King's Heart, sequel for The King's Tale.

This book is coming from Dreamspinner Press in May or June of this year!

Read about it here!

A few pieces of news...

First of all, I received a contract for a novella, due to be published in early 2012. Stay tuned for more details.


Secondly, I finished the first (rough draft) manuscript for my sequel for The King's Tale yesterday. Entitled The King's Heart, it will follow Christopher and Dafydd as they come to terms with changes.

Feeling very optimistic, even though my garden is going through a huge change today.

The King's Tale

Because The King's Tale  gets a lot of  2 star reviews I'd like to address some of the things that I think people take issue with.

**Spoilers**

First of all the character of Marged. This is a medieval tale, and as such the only way for the king to get an heir was to sleep with a woman. Granted I could have chosen to have this actually happen "off camera", but I didn't mainly for character development reasons. Sure once would have been enough, but a lot of times my characters come alive in my head and they wanted it more than once. I kept the scenes short. Christopher is very intense, he does nothing by halves. He loves Marged, but never in the same way he loves Dafydd. And Dafydd is gentle and accepting, so he realizes Marged is no threat. In a lot of ways the fact that Christopher went straight from Marged's bed to Dafydd's that first night tells all about his feelings. He leaves Marged, virtually a stranger to his household, alone in his bed and seeks Dafydd's bed where he tells Dafydd that he feels safe with him. A strong emotion for a king to reveal.

Secondly, the language. I grew up reading Medieval romances, and I always lost myself in the language. In fact, I like it when the language is historically correct. It's not completely correct in this book, but there are aspects of it that are. Along with that are some of the names. I admit, I don't even know the correct pronunciation for "Lysnowydh" but it doesn't matter. I always tell my students that when I come to words I can't pronounce my mind just slips over them like water over rocks. I'm not reading it out loud so I don't have to know how to pronounce it.

One thing that always puzzles me is the knock that the book has "too much sex and not enough plot". I simply don't understand this criticism. I agree there are a lot of sex scenes, but I do not agree that there isn't a plot. However, these are opinions and so each is entitled to their own opinion.

And finally, the historical accuracy. King Christopher is not a real character. During that time there were no lesser kings. I chose to make him a king because it suited me. Also, I have done research and I know that homosexuals in Great Britain at that time were not accepted. If discovered they were subject to the Papal inquisition, and likely put to death. They would never be allowed to live openly in the way I depicted. I chose to ignore that because above all the story is a romance. Apart from that the rest of the history is as accurate as I could get it. I researched hand-fasting rituals, and medieval medicine. The rest of the feel came from my memories of all the medieval traditional romances I read while growing up.