Guest Post ~ Hold the Faith: Apostle John Series, by Susan M. B. Preston

Available on Amazon UK, Amazon US

and Amazon Australia

To be a Christian in 1st century Ephesus, under Roman rule, is dangerous. 
The arena awaits, a background threat… one that candidates for baptism are reminded of. The decision might cost them their lives. All it takes is the refusal to burn a pinch of incense and declare that Emperor Domitian is lord and god, and Roman ire declares they are subversive, rebels.

It is 92 AD, and the Apostle John still lives! The sect that the Jewish authorities had hoped would die following the crucifixion of their leader, had not happened.

What had happened was the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple that was (dare I say it) almost like an idol to the Jews of the time. Many of those early followers of the ‘Way’, later to be called ‘Christians’ in a derogatory term, had fled under the persecution from the Jews. With the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem, came the Diaspora and Jews joined their fellow Jews in various cities around the Roman Empire.

Using biblical principles I worked out that John, the apostle, would have been married. Working out his age in 92 AD was relatively simple, so calculating the age of any children, and their children was again worked out using the knowledge of when Jewish men married. The daughters were married off far earlier, often soon after puberty, but men had to be mature, settled, and able to support a wife and family.

Thus, although the Apostle John is a key figure in the series of books, he is not the main character. Readers have identified Benjamin, the great-grandson I ‘gave’ John, as the ‘hero’ of the series.

Hold the Faith, the first in the series, is the first in print, although all three are available as eBooks. Book four is ‘resting’ in draft, but starting to urge me to ‘get on with it’. So do a few fans who have followed the family and the brethren through the trials of living in ‘occupied territory’.

I chose Ephesus for the location as most of the evidence pointed that way. There is a friend who would not buy the book because her pet theory (which I did consider) was that John had gone to England. Historically, I could not find enough evidence to support that.

As a child I loved history as a class subject, and as a young person, I devoured books on the Tudors, some of the French ancestry, Scottish history and a long series on the Popes. The Medici and Borgia families fascinated me.

Never would it have occurred to me that I would be writing Christian, historical fiction. I wrote manuals to help my computer classes. But when listening to a detailed Bible study on the gospel of John, I wondered. “Could that be true?” and so started a long trail of research, which does become addictive.

What I found were the people and the times that these folks in the Bible… who had been just stories until then. I found out what it was like living under Roman rule, being hated by Jews, Romans and pagans. They were people. It seems I succeeded in showing that because I have emails and reviews saying that. There is a time to stop a series though, and that will come at the end of book five. Book four is written, book five is thoughts, ideas, promptings. In the meantime book one is now in print – on sale in the US but the ‘official’ Australian launch is in May.

I consulted many versions of the Bible, Josephus (a former Pharisee, and prone to exaggeration by many commentators). Lionel Casson’s ‘Travels in the Ancient World’ was amusing in parts. I subscribe to Biblical Archeological research newsletters and Biblical History newsletters. Suetonius gives insights into the Roman emperors he writes about, as well as various Roman festivals and everything Roman. I have a shelf full of books and hard drives with gigabytes of research – oh, and I recently found another valuable newsletter… Ancient History Encyclopedia.

Susan M. B. Preston

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About the Author

Susan Preston is someone you will usually find at her desk behind her computer, researching and writing her fiction books set in the 1st century AD. Originally from the historic town of Peebles in the Scottish borders, she grew up surrounded by history. Never in her wildest dreams would she have imagined she would write a historical fiction series on early Christianity. It was when a church girls club needed a leader, that Susan stepped forward took on the role, and delved into the stories in the Bible. The ‘leap’ to full-length fiction novels was born from an, “I wonder if that’s true’ moment, and a vast amount of research… which she admits is addictive.  Now there are three books in the Apostle John series, a fourth ‘resting’ in second draft, and a fifth… more than likely. Find out more at susanprestonauthor.com and follow Susan on Twitter @SPrestonPerth

How To Be a Tudor: A Dawn-to-Dusk Guide to Everyday Life, by Ruth Goodman

Available on Amazon UK and Amazon US

The real Wolf Hall - a time traveller's guide to daily life

in Tudor England

The Tudor era encompasses some of the greatest changes in our history. But while we know about the historical dramas of the times - most notably in the court of Henry VIII - what was life really like for a commoner like you or me?

To answer this question, the renowned "method historian" Ruth Goodman has slept, washed and cooked as the Tudors did - so you don't have to! She is your expert guide to this fascinating era, drawing on years of practical historical study to show how our ancestors coped with everyday life, from how they slept to how they courted.

Using a vast range of sources, she takes you back to the time when soot was used as toothpaste and the "upper crust" of bread was served to the wealthier members of the house. Exploring how the Tudors learnt, danced and even sat and stood according to the latest fashion, she reveals what it all felt, smelt and tasted like, from morning until night.

'Ruth is the queen of living history, long may she reign!' - Lucy Worsley

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About the Author

Ruth Goodman is a historian who specializes in the social and domestic life of Britain.  She works with a wide range of museums and other academic institutions, exploring the past of ordinary people and their activities.  She has presented a number of highly acclaimed and popular  BBC 2 television series including ‘Victorian Farm’, ‘Victorian Pharmacy’, ‘Edwardian Farm’, ‘Wartime Farm’ and ‘Tudor Monastery Farm’.  In each of these programmes she spent up to a year recreating life from a different period.  Ruth was also the expert presenter on BBC 1’s  ‘24 Hours in the Past’ and is a regular contributor to ‘The One Show’ and ‘Coast’.  Her book ‘How to be a Victorian’ attracted international acclaim and this was followed by ‘How to be a Tudor’ (both published by Viking). 

I Love the Tudors: 400 Fantastic Facts, by Mickey Mayhew #Tudors

New on Amazon UK and available for pre-order on Amazon US

• Henry VII’s father died in prison before he was born.


• Henry VIII was too fat to walk down the stairs.


• Mary Queen of Scots was almost killed by an earthquake at Sheffield Castle.


• Elizabeth I wore poisonous makeup.

This fun little book, containing 400 fantastic facts about the Tudor era and more than 100 illustrations, will delight Tudor fans everywhere!

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About the Author

Mickey Mayhew is a lifelong Londoner, currently completing his PhD on the cult surrounding tragic queens Anne Boleyn and Mary Queen of Scots. He was co-author on three books relating to Jack the Ripper and his first non-fiction work, The Little Book of Mary Queen of Scots, was published in January 2015. I Love the Tudors was released in January 2016 and went straight to the top of the Amazon bestselling chart in Tudor history. Fiction includes the urban fantasy frolic 'Jack and the Lad', first part of the paranormal romance trilogy 'The Barrow Boys of Barking'. Mickey is also a regular columnist for several 'highbrow' historical journals, as well as being a film and theatre reviewer for various London lifestyle magazines; elsewhere several short stories have also been serialised. Find out more at his website http://www.mickeymayhew.com and find Mickey on Twitter @Mickey_Mayhew

Guest Post ~ Virgin Widow: A Reappraisal, by Anne O'Brien

Available on Amazon UK and Amazon US

Anne Neville, daughter of the powerful Earl of Warwick, grows up during the War of the Roses, a time when kings and queens are made and destroyed in an on-going battle for the ultimate prize: the throne of England. As a child Anne falls in love with the ambitious, proud Richard of Gloucester, third son of the House of York. But when her father is branded a traitor, her family must flee to exile in France. As Anne matures into a beautiful, poised woman, skillfully navigating the treacherous royal court of Margaret of Anjou, she secretly longs for Richard, who has become a great man under his brother's rule. But as their families scheme for power, Anne must protect her heart from betrayals on both sides-and from the man she has always loved, 

and cannot bring herself to trust.

On balance, medieval women, even royal and aristocratic women, have very little to say for themselves in the pages of history, often no more than a few lines or a paragraph to their name.  Apart from a few notable females, they are remarkably silent. 

Why should this be?

Because medieval history was primarily a man's world of politics and battles, family manoeuvring and power-brokering, written by men about men.   A woman was dominated by the men of her family throughout childhood, betrothal and into marriage.  Obedient to father, brother and husband, her role was to ensure an alliance with an equally powerful family.  When she does appear in history she is written about in the context of her relationship to men: daughter, sister, husband, unless she took the veil.

We may not expect to hear much from a woman of the lower classes, but surely a woman of the court had an opinion of the people and the political events around her, and a strong one when the direction of her life was changed at the dictates of the men in her family.  I cannot believe that she has nothing to say. I am sure these frequently intelligent, well-educated women made their opinions known - as all women do.

Anne Neville was the first of the medieval women I chose to write about in Virgin Widow, to bring her from the shadows of history to stand beside the famous men of her family.   Anne was Queen of England, daughter of the most powerful man in England and wife to one of the most notorious Kings, and yet we know so little about her.   History records the dates of her life and a sparse outline of her two marriages.  Her family of course is well documented.  The Earl of Warwick, her father, figures prominently in the history of the Wars of the Roses, a dominant force in the making and unmaking of kings, whilst Richard III, her second husband, needs no introduction.  But Anne appears a figure without form or depth.

It seemed to me that, surrounded as she was by strong female characters, Anne too might have been a young woman of considerable spirit.  Her mother, Anne Beauchamp, an heiress in her own right, was perfectly capable of running the Warwick household in her husband's many absences.  Cecily Neville, Duchess of York, proved to be a formidable women at the centre of her equally formidable family.  Elizabeth Woodville rose from relative obscurity to be Queen of England, holding her family together through death and imprisonment.  Queen Margaret of Anjou, wife to the ill-fated Henry VI, had no qualms about taking control of the reins of government during her husband's mental difficulties.  None of these contemporaries of Anne could be considered to be shrinking violets.

Given this background, Anne seemed to me to be a gift to an historical novelist.  How could I resist the opportunity to put words into Anne’s mouth and encourage her to emerge as a living entity with the bloody event of the Wars of the Roses as a backdrop?  Equally hard to resist was the possibility of a romance between Anne and Richard, raised together as they were for some years at Middleham Castle.  There is no evidence that there was ever a childhood affection between them, but equally there is nothing to suggest that there was not. 

Without doubt, Anne was used as a pawn in the unscrupulous political dealings of the Wars of the Roses, making and unmaking alliances, as would any young girl of similar status.  But what if she had inherited all the self-will and pride of her Neville and Beauchamp ancestors…?

I was inspired to recreate her.  So Virgin Widow was written.

Anne O'Brien

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About the Author

Anne O'Brien was born in the West Riding of Yorkshire. After gaining a B.A. Honours degree in History at Manchester University and a Masters degree in education at Hull, she lived in the East Riding as a teacher of history. Always a prolific reader, she enjoyed historical fiction and was encouraged to try her hand at writing. Success in short story competitions spurred her on. Leaving teaching, she wrote her first historical romance, a Regency, which was published in 2005. To date nine historical romances and a novella, ranging from medieval, through the Civil War and Restoration and back to Regency, have been published internationally. Anne now lives with her husband in an eighteenth century timber-framed cottage in the depths of the Welsh Marches in Herefordshire, on the borders between England and Wales. Since living there she has become hooked on medieval history. Virgin Widow, published in 2010 was Anne's first novel based on the life of an historical character, Anne Neville, wife of Richard Duke of Gloucester. Her second novel tracks the early life of Eleanor of Aquitaine, through marriage, crusades and divorce, not to mention scandal, as Devil's Consort (In the USA published as Queen Defiant.)  Other novels depict the scandalous life of Alice Perrers, mistress of King Edward III, who broke all the rules as The King's Concubine, followed by Katherine de Valois as The Forbidden Queen and Elizabeth of Lancaster as The King's Sister. Anne's latest book, The Queen’s Choice, about the life of Joanna of Navarre, was released in the UK on 14th January 2016.  Find out more at Anne's website www.anneobrienbooks.com and find her on Facebook and Twitter @anne_obrien.

The Bravery of Mary, Queen of Scots, Executed #OnThisDay 8 February 1587

The wax mask placed over Mary's face
after death to preserve the memory of her.

I remember as a child being horrified at how Elizabeth cut off her cousin’s head. Now, decades later, I am a little closer to understanding it. It is cold and windy here in Pembrokeshire today on the 8^th of February, and I imagine it must have been much the same in London more than four centuries ago. Mary asked her executioners to kneel while she prayed for their souls, and said 'I forgive you with all my heart, for now, I hope, you shall make an end of all my troubles.'

Her maidservants then began to remove her clothes, which must have been a final indignity for such a proud and private woman.  She unfastened the crucifix which she always wore around her neck and handed it to her executioner, saying it should bring him some money, then passed her well-worn rosary to one of her ladies.

It is reported that all this time she seemed calm and in good spirits, saying she ‘never had such grooms to make her unready', and that she 'never put off her clothes before such a company.'  Now dressed only in her petticoat and kirtle, she embraced her two ladies, and spoke to them in French, 'Ne crie vous, j'ay prome pour vous'. She turned to her other servants, who had assembled to witness her death, and asked them to pray for her.

A blindfold was now pinned over her head and she knelt on a cushion, praying in Latin, Psalm 31: In Te Domine confide non confundar in eternam, then, feeling with her hands for the executioner’s block, lay down her head, resting her chin over the block. In a final, chilling plea, she stretched out her arms ad called out, ‘In manus tuas, Domine,’ four times.

The act of execution did not go well. And took several attempts with the axe.  It is said as he lifted her head by her hair, her wig fell off to reveal short, grey hair. And her lips continued to move as if still praying. A detail often not reported is that her little dog, hiding under her petticoats, refused to leave his mistress and lay down between her head and her shoulders.

I will remember her today as a brave woman, who faced death with dignity and great courage, a true queen. 

The scene of the execution, created by an unknown Dutch artist in 1613 (Wikimedia Commons) 

Historical Fiction Spotlight ~ The Heretic Heir (The Elizabeth of England Chronicles Book 2) by Gemma Lawrence

New on Amazon UK and Amazon US

February 1603, the last of the Tudor monarchs is dying, but Death must wait for Elizabeth of England to finish her tale... 

As The Bastard Princess, Elizabeth Tudor, daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, has fought through a childhood of intrigue and peril to her place as the heir to the English throne. But as her sister, Mary I, the first anointed and sole Queen of England takes the crown, Elizabeth must face her most dangerous challenges yet... for Mary I is determined to return England to the Catholic faith, and will have none stand in her way. 

Protestant Elizabeth knows that she must survive the suspicions and distrust of her sister, in a reign where rebellion and war freely stalked the lands of England. 
To survive, this heretic heir must hone her skills in survival, wit and wile, in order that she may one day... become Queen. 

"This book is a masterpiece." Terry Tyler, Author

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About the Author

Gemma Lawrence is an independently published author living in Cornwall in the UK. She studied literature at university says, 'I write mainly Historical Fiction, with an emphasis on the Tudor and Medieval periods and have a particular passion for women of history who inspire me'. Her first book in the Elizabeth of England Chronicles series is The Bastard Princess (The Elizabeth of England Chronicles Book 1). Gemma can be found on Wattpad and Twitter

@TudorTweep. 

Historical Fiction Spotlight ~ Tristan & Isolde: Book One. Love Is Stone, by RR Gordon @RRGordonDotCom

New on Amazon UK and Amazon US

The long-awaited first book in the Tristan & Isolde series from the bestselling author RR Gordon ... 

The Legend Of Cornwall’s Star-Crossed Lovers 

Saxons are spreading across southern England, squeezing the Celts into the corners of Cornwall and South Wales. Is it simply a matter of time until a race that once covered most of Europe is driven into extinction? 

Two teenage Celtic brothers from a small border village attack a band of Saxons who venture across from Wessex. King Marke of Cornwall hears of their deeds and recruits them into his royal guards, the younger Tristan rising over a few short years to become his champion swordsman. 

King Vortipor has recently united all of South Wales into a single kingdom, but when he falls ill, the old factions begin to re-surface. His queen, Elen, struggles to keep the kingdom together while hiding the true seriousness of her husband’s condition. 

Isolde, a young Irish princess, is betrothed to a man she hates. Isolde plots to overthrow her father in order to determine her own destiny, but little does she know that her actions will set four kingdoms on a collision course that is likely to have a profound impact across the whole of the known world. 

Cornwall's Romeo and Juliet 

The Celtic legend of Tristan & Isolde’s love has endured a thousand years and is part of the folklore of nearly fifty countries. Some believe the story inspired Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, making Tristan & Isolde the original star-crossed lovers. 

Weaving legend into historical fact, the best-selling author RR Gordon has created a spell-binding tale featuring battles, romance, political intrigue, engaging leading men and strong heroines. 

PRAISE FOR TRISTAN & ISOLDE: 

‘An epic tale in the style of Game Of Thrones’ 

‘Interlaces historical fact and storytelling fiction like Bernard Cornwell, combined with the epic intrigue and crisscrossing plot lines of George RR Martin – a glorious, sumptuous story’ 

‘RR Gordon’s best book yet – a masterpiece of historical fiction’ 

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About the Author

RR Gordon grew up in Yorkshire and now lives in the Cotswolds with his wife & four children. Author of the Wish You Were Here Series: Gull Rock, Ramsey Sound and Rydal Water, he writes books that might be described as thrillers, but with a twist of humour and romance. Find out more at and follow RR Gordon on Twitter @RRGordonDotCom