Going Wild on Wedneday

Photo and poster by Pauline Barclay

Going Wild on Wednesday!  Stephen Taylor shares more of his amazing photographs (all photos have copy rights to Stephen).

What another  fabulous collection of photos and, of course, Stephen will be back again next Wednesday for more, Going Wild!

If you missed previous weeks, click on the week no.

Week 1

Week 2

As always, thank you for calling by PBHQ. I'd better get on with writing book 2 in my Gardner and Chattaway cosy mystery series and popping out to snap a few more pics to share on Instagram. Until next time, I hope the sun is shining on your face and in your heart.

Pauline x

Going Wild on Wednesday

Photo and poster by Pauline Barclay

Going Wild on Wednesday!  Stephen Taylor shares more of his amazing photographs (all photos have copy rights to Stephen).

What a fabulous collection of photos and Stephen will be back again next Wednesday for more, Going Wild!

If you missed last week's collection from Stephen click here

As always, thank you for calling by PBHQ. I'd better get on with writing book 2 in my Gardner and Chattaway cosy mystery series and popping out to snap a few more pics to share on Instagram. Until next time, I hope the sun is shining on your face and in your heart.

Pauline x

Beautifully Covers by Suzy Turner

Today, we’ve got it covered at PBHQ!!! Sorry about that, but today, I have a wonderful lady who I have been friends with for many years – social media and author friend – the lovely Suzy Turner. Suzy is talking about her fabulous pre-made covers that are also exclusive. Please make yourself comfortable with a bubbly drink and take a look at Suzy's designer covers.

I’m delighted to be here on Pauline’s blog today. Pauline and I have been author pals for almost as long as I’ve been writing books (over ten years now!), and she has always been such an amazing source of encouragement and support and I am so grateful to her for that. So when she invited me to write a guest post about my latest venture, I jumped at the chance!

As well as publishing my own books, I’ve recently begun another exciting adventure in the book world: Covers by Suzy—my new book cover design business. I’ve been designing my own book covers (and a few for a friend) for years and people kept telling me I should do it for others too. But it wasn’t until I started doing my own photography earlier this year, that I realised it might actually work. I began creating pieces of art (photography that is manipulated in Photoshop) that would work as book covers. So I launched Covers by Suzy.

And boy, am I loving every second of it! I’ve created quite a large selection so far, with new covers being added almost daily. I’m producing covers in a wide variety of genres including Action & Adventure, Mystery & Cosy Mystery, Comedy, Drama, Romance & Chick Lit, Steampunk & Dystopia, Young Adult, Urban Fantasy & Fantasy, Horror & Thriller. However, I am always open to other genres and ideas!

After finishing my A’ levels, I worked for a newspaper, learning all about page-making and ad design, but I never did any formal training. It wasn’t until I started writing fiction many years later that I really got into the creative process and began attempting my own book covers. In the early days though, I paid other designers to create covers for me, because mine weren’t quite up to scratch. But, being one of those people who likes to do everything herself (!), I was itching to do it. So, I watched endless Youtube videos, I read books on the subject and took a few online courses, and practised as much as possible until I felt confident enough to do it. Fast forward to 2021 and I felt ready to finally produce book covers for other authors, and I think because I’m an author myself, I know what it’s like. This is the reason why my pre-made covers are so affordable. When you're first starting out in indie publishing, you might not want to spend a lot of money on a cover.

If you’re an author looking for a book cover, I hope you’ll check out Covers by Suzy, and let your author pals know. Also, as mentioned above, I’m open to ideas and constructive criticism so do let me know your thoughts. You can find Covers by Suzy on Facebook too.

Pauline, thank you so much for having me on your wonderful blog!

Thank you, Suzy for telling us about your covers. I have taken a look and they are stunning. I know you are going to be very successful at offering these fabulous, PRE-MADE Covers. Indie authors, please take a look at Suzy Covers, you won’t be disappointed.

As always, thank you for calling by PBHQ I hope you love Suzy's covers as much as I do.  I’m now away to continue writing book 2 in my Gardner and Chattaway cosy mystery series.

Until next time, I hope the sun is shining on your face and in your heart.

Pauline x

 

 

Going Wild on Wednesday

Photo and poster by Pauline Barclay

 From this week we are Going Wild on Wednesday!

As you already know I have a passion for photography and thanks to the help of a photographer friend, I bought a new camera that was so many times above the budget I had set, but it has turned out to be a brilliant buy.

Although I have many photos of wildlife, scenes etc. - you can see a selection of them on my Instagram account @paulinebarclay - for now, Going Wild on Wednesday is to showcase some of the fabulous photos taken by Stephen Taylor (all photos have copy rights to Stephen).

I’m sure you have been amazed at Stephen’s talent and we hope you will join us again next Wednesday for more, Going Wild!

As always, thank you for calling by PBHQ I’m now away to continue writing book 2 in my Gardner and Chattaway cosy mystery series and also to snap a few more pics to share on Instagram. Until next time, I hope the sun is shining on your face and in your heart.

Pauline

Between the Sun and the Rainbow

 

Written as a tribute to her ancestors, Eileen Schuh’s novel Between the Sun and the Rainbow is a read that will appeal to many. Eileen has popped into PBHQ to tells us how the book came about, so please take a comfy seat and settle down to meet my wonderful guest and friend, Eileen Schuh.

Although I wrote  BETWEEN THE SUN AND THE RAINBOW  as a tribute to my ancestors, a gift to my grandchildren and a link to bind us all together, the story ( albeit unintentionally) also carries a strong modern message of hope for those of us caught up in the pandemic.

BETWEEN THE SUN AND THE RAINBOW starts off with a mother admonishing her children to consider the turn in their lives an "adventure."

Danielle cannot believe she's embarking on an adventure. Her parents are fighting and divorcing and her mother has moved them from their city home to a rundown shack on the prairies.

Danielle must have felt much like we do--life as she'd always known it was over. She has no electricity, no inside toilet. No running water. Her friends, her school, and her father are thousands of kilometers away. And...like us, she has no idea how or when it's all going to end. She knows, it will never be the same again.

Adventure indeed.

Danielle does make it through, stronger, wiser and happier as I’m sure we all will as well. Hang in there.

As to my original intentions for this, my first juvenile novel, I grew up on a small farm by Tofield, Alberta, Canada through the 1950’s and 60’s. My parents sold that farm just months after I gave birth to my first child, so I was never able to share that important part of my life with either my children or grandchildren.

The characters are fictional, but where they live and some of the events on the farm that influence their lives, are based on my younger years.

The cabin Danielle lives in, as described in the book and illustrated on the cover, is the home I grew up in, complete with cream separator, pantry, stove, cellar and the cupboards behind the curtain. I slept upstairs as Danielle does, ran my hands over the rafters and felt the heat of the chimney rising through the floor.

I, of course, did not have a cell phone or iPad as the characters in the book do. In fact, we didn’t have a TV or a phone of any kind. I do, though, remember listening to music and stories on the gramophone and the transistor radio.

I hauled in wood and coal for heating and cooking, worked in the garden, and played in a tree house as my characters do.

In the book, the history that Mom teaches Jayson and Danielle about the farmstead and her ancestors is closely based on fact. My father’s parents, lived in the cabin before my family did. And yes, my Grandma Fairbrother married when she was in her early teens and moved to Alberta from the United States.

It was I who went to the Grade One school house that Danielle’s mom describes (and who got in trouble from the teachers for getting wet in the spring). It was my older sister (rather than Mom’s older brother in the story) who was born after a hectic horse and buggy ride through the spring melt followed by a school bus run to the Tofield Hospital.

And, yes, the Town of Tofield is named after the pioneer medical man, Dr. J.H. Tofield.

Despite these similarities to reality, unlike in the story neither I nor my parents divorced. In fact, my dad died just shy of my parents’ fiftieth wedding anniversary and my husband and I celebrate our fortieth the year this book was published. Also, unlike Danielle and her mother, I’ve never lived in Toronto and I have two sisters but no brothers.

Although written to connect my family, I believe the story resonates with all those who have an interest in ‘the way things used to be” and those seeking support as they travel through our pandemic ‘adventure’.

 

Eileen Schuh, Author

Web site: http://www.eileenschuh.com
Blog: http://eileenschuh.blogspot.com

 

As always, thank you for calling by PBHQ. I hope the sun is shining on your face and in your heart.

Pauline

You may also want to read Barbara Gaskell Denvil’s post about her cosy mystery, Kettle Lane

You may want to read Barbara Gaskell Denvill’s post about her cosy mystery

A Cosy Mystery at Kettle Lane

 As you know, I have recently published my first cosy mystery, Serendipity and like all in this genre, it is an easy read with a warm feeling. If, like me, you love to snuggle down with a cosy mystery, then please settle down and meet my wonderful guest and author friend, Barbara Gaskell Denvil who talks about her cosy mysteries.

 

THE COSY MYSTERY AT KETTLE LANE

I have so enjoyed the cosy mysteries written by others over the past couple of years, and I find it such a delightful genre. Nothing too intrusive on a cold evening, nor spine tingling when you’re ready to curl up and enjoy sweet dreams.

But I must admit, I believe mine are just a little different, since I didn’t want to repeat what other authors have done.

The Rookery, which is a series of three principal stories so far, plus a couple of short additions, is set in the Middle Ages in a small English village, where the inhabitants are quite unaware that the Rookery, the local retirement home, caters only for aged witches and wizards,

 

Kettle Lane is the first in the series. Although there is a short prequel available. Number four is still in progress, but hopefully will be published soon.

Rosie doesn’t know her full powers yet, and she’s rather taken for granted as the cleaner and tidier-upper by the inhabitants. However, when a sudden mystery death shocks them all, Rosie turns out to be cleverer than first believed.

These are books with humour and some very unusual characters, but at heart it is a cosy mystery like all the others, and the occasional shadow never gets too dark. This is a medieval village of secrets amongst the farms and markets, and the retirement home is even more secretive. But Rosie likes secrets and enjoys unravelling what seems shut tight.

I love writing and I adore exploring different genres, but at heart the English medieval has always been a passion, so here we are again. Without mobile phones, computers, cars and buses, and even without books and supermarkets selling ready-made food, people in those days needed to keep their wits about them and sort out problems themselves. And after all, if a powerful wizard is suddenly murdered, it’s a puzzle in more ways than one. Why couldn’t such a man protect himself? Who could possibly be even more powerful than the powerful?

 

Kettle Lane, book one in the Rookery Series, by B. G. DENVIL.

http://readerlinks.com/l/1945983

 

Cosy Mysteries also to check out…

Serendipity

A Mirror Murder by Helen Hollick

A Mirror Murder by Helen Hollick

Compared to Jonathan Creek!!!

 

Today, Kit Domino adds her thoughts on Serendipity, click the link to find out why she compares it to Jonathan Creek and MacDonald and Dodds!

 https://kitdomino.com/2021/08/11/guest-post-pauline-barclay/

Intelligent & Entertaining

To say, I am smiling is an understatement. I have just opened an email from a reader who has made my day. Now feeling honoured and blessed.

Dear Pauline,

I wanted to let you know that I finished Serendipity today. Thank you for an intelligent and entertaining read. Juggling two plots and two sub-plots plus building romantic interest cannot have been easy…. I look forward to more Craig & Roo.

 

Thank you lovely reader.

Hugs

Pauline

Another 5 Stars for Serendipity

Following yesterday’s post, I can add another 5 star review to my new cosy mystery….

 

You can guarantee that a Pauline Barclay will be an enjoyable read, and her first foray into the world of the 'cosy mystery' is no exception. Delightful characters, an intriguing plot and a more than satisfactory ending.

Ideal reading, glass of wine to hand, for lazing in the sun or curled before the fire.

100% good stuff!

 

Thank you lovely reader.

Hugs

Pauline

Five Stars for Serendipity

 

So delighted to see three FIVE STAR reviews on Amazon for my new, cosy mystery,   Serendipity.

 Thank you lovely readers for buying my new book and for taking the time to review.

Hugs

Pauline

Talking Mysteries in Devon!

Today, I'm over in Devon talking to the wonderful Helen Hollick about how my latest book, Serendipity, a feel good cosy mystery, and how it came about. I hope you will pop along and say hello!

 

https://ofhistoryandkings.blogspot.com/2021/08/monday-mysteries-with-pauline-barclay.html

Paulette Mahurin Talks about what should never be Forgotten

 

Today, at PBHQ, I have a wonderful guest who writes beautiful emotional books that serve to remind us of some of the evil atrocities carried out by man that should never be forgotten or happen again. Please make yourself comfortable, help your shelf to a glass of chilled bubby and meet award winning author, Paulette Mahurin.

First let me say a heartfelt thank you Pauline, for having me over to your blog site. And for all the generosity you have shown to me, and so many others.

My inspiration comes from what interests me in life. What opens my heart? My compassion? I don’t write from a “story idea” but rather a topic: homophobia, racism, anti-Semitism, etc. Topics that I don’t really understand and want to know more about. On a personal level, and so it is this personal desire that invites me into characters lives, whether real or imagined.

My first book came about in a writing class, from a photo of two women circa 1890s, standing close together and not looking too happy. The late 1890s was a ripe time for homophobia. To be specific in 1895 Oscar Wilde fell victim to England’s indecency law change. That’s when it became a criminal offense and he was tried and sent to prison for having an affair with another man. That hit me right in the gut. Being imprisoned for an intimate involvement with the person you love is cruel punishment. Wilde’s story fascinated me and so I incorporated the photo of the women into his imprisonment. I made them lesbians on the frontier in Nevada impacted by Wilde’s incarceration. The story flowed forth from that premise.

My other books, the story lines, followed a similar path. Emile Zola’s speaking out to help Alfred Dreyfus became my book, To Live Out Loud. The Seven Year Dress was based on a woman I rented a room from while in college; an Auschwitz survivor. After I wrote that book, my attention went back to 1895, to Booker T. Washington’s Atlanta address. His struggled to educate freed slaves. From there came my story, The Day I Saw The Hummingbird, about a young slave boy who escaped to freedom on the underground railway. Along the way, kindhearted people helped shelter him. On his journey, he learned to read and write—an illegal act at the time. My attention then went back to WW2 and the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands and Vichy France—the impact the resistance had on helping Jewish people. I became fascinated with heroes who risked much to help many. I wrote about those heroes; real people with little known about them. People often ask me if I’m bothered by writing about heavy topics. No, I tell them. I’m inspired by the kindness, the decency, the resilience that springs forth in the worst of times. These are the seeds that grow my stories. The essence of what inspires me.

My next book is another story of German occupation in the Netherlands. Specifically, it deals with three people who helped rescue over 600 young Jewish children. On the main street in Amsterdam was a theater, a daycare, and a college. The theater was a deportation center for Jews. The Jewish children aged 12 and younger were housed across the street at the daycare. The daycare shared a backyard hedge with the college. The Jewish man managing the theater, the Jewish woman managing the daycare, and the Christian head of the college worked with the Resistance to help smuggle some of the smaller children under the age of three from the daycare to the college. In a box, a laundry bag, otherwise hidden, the children were moved over the hedge out through the college to be transported to safe houses. In the few months in 1943 over 600 children were saved. Based on a true story, my upcoming book, Over the Hedge, is about their rescue.

For many years, writing was a hobby, a secondary love to my main profession. A health care provider. I worked in the second busiest ER in LA county for many years. Writing help me maintain my sanity. Writing has always been a comfort and enjoyment for as long as I can remember. As a child I wrote in a diary. Then short stories. Two of my short stories won contests with one being published in college. My full time writing career happened by chance. I took sick with a chronic illness and was unable to do much more than move my fingers. Again, writing was a sanctuary for me. Eventually, a lot of my health returned and I took the writing class where I saw the photo of the women. My first book sprang from that well. I got lucky with its success. I haven’t stopped writing. Over the Hedge is my tenth book.

You can find more about Paulette and her books at the following…

 Blog site:https://thepersecutionofmildreddunlap.wordpress.com/

 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Paulette-Mahurins-Books-695108163960200

Amazon Author’s Page: https://www.amazon.com/Paulette-Mahurin/e/B008MMDUGO

 

Thank you Paulette for taking time out to come along and talk about your wonderful books. Thank you too wonderful visitors for joining us today. I hope Paulette’s story has inspired you to take a look at her books.

 

Take good care of yourself and I hope the sun is shining on your face and in your heart.

 

Hugs

 

Pauline

Publication Day for Serendipity

Today is publication day for Serendipity. Available in Kindle and from Monday in paperback. Most important, I want to say a HUGE, huge thank you to everyone who has supported me along this journey. You have no idea how much it all means. Wishing you all a fabulous day. I'm away to continue with book 2 in the series.

Kindle: Amazon co uk

Kindle Amazon com

Hugs and love to you all xxx