July 2, 2009 by Ruth
…to my website. I’m the author of three mysteries featuring Roman Army medic and reluctant sleuth, Gaius Petreius Ruso. His second adventure is now in paperback and looks like one of the pics on the right, depending on where you live.
There’s more about the books here, and if you’re wondering why the two titles… that’s the place to find out.
Recent mental meanderings appear below on the Blog, and you’ll find other pages via the links on the right. The rest of the links are a random selection of things I’ve found interesting – just in case you like them too.
In answer to the kind people who’ve asked about the latest book – Ruso 3 is now available in the US and Canada, looking like this:
It’ll be published in Spring 2010 in the UK as ‘Ruso and the Root of All Evils‘. Sorry about the wait, but it will be in paperback – so not too expensive.
UPDATE: I’m enormously grateful to the folk at Library Journal, who have just given it a starred review. Publisher’s Weekly have said nice things too. Some of them can be found on the books page.
The publication of a new book is always fraught with terror, so there were big sighs of relief here at Downie Towers when these came through.
Posted in Book 3, Uncategorized | 31 Comments »
July 5, 2009 by Ruth
The arrival of a box of shiny and very lovely copies of ‘Persona Non Grata’ reminds me of a statement attributed to Paul Gardner – that a painting is never finished: it just stops in interesting places. You could say the same for a novel.
Part of the editor’s job is to wrest the manuscript out of the hands of the author at the appropriate moment. I’m sure I can’t be the only writer who, given half a chance, would carry on tweaking the text long after the proposed publication date – but not necessarily improving it.
I shan’t be going as far as the apocryphal author who was once seen on a train pencilling amendments into the paperback edition of his own novel, but will confess a grovelling email to the nice folk at Bloomsbury along the lines of, ‘I know we agreed the proofs, but could you possibly just change…’
Email is a silent medium, so the polite and helpful reply failed to convey the sound of people banging their heads on their desks and cursing.
The U.K. proofs are already corrected and over the next few weeks I’ll try to restrain the urge to offer Penguin a few last-minute improvements. In the meantime I hope American readers will find that Ruso’s third adventure has stopped in an interesting place.
Incidentally, Margaret Donsbach and I had a chat about Persona Non Grata recently over at Historical Novels.Info – see her blog entry for 2 July. (While you’re over there, anyone who’s ever considerered penning some historical fiction will enjoy her ‘writing tips‘ page.)
Posted in Book 3, Publishing, Writing | 2 Comments »
July 3, 2009 by Ruth
Four days of hot weather and any trace of the British spirit of ‘mustn’t grumble’ has definitely melted away. As the papers have been eager to tell us, it hasn’t been this hot since… well, since the last time.
The heatwave sort of broke today, in that whilst people are still displaying parts of themselves in public that would be better covered up, they’re no longer staggering about clutching bottles of water and telling each other that they can’t stand it much longer.
Digging has been interesting this week. Having been reduced to a limp and muddy rag by Monday night despite drinking gallons of water, I spent some time prowling the internet in search of a cure for heat fatigue. I can now reveal that the answer is…
Crisps.
Well actually the answer seems to be Salt, but it tastes better attached to something crunchy.
I wish I’d known that during the rather warm research for Persona Non Grata, the publication of which we’ll be celebrating here at Downie Towers next week. (Using, if this weather continues, a big bag of Ready Salted and a jug of ice cubes.)
A view from the top of the spoil heap. Taking the occasional turn to trundle a wheelbarrow full of mud up to this point is what brings on the need for crisps.
Posted in Archaeology, Random distractions | Leave a Comment »
June 21, 2009 by Ruth
…there’s some fool who enjoys playing in it. And before you ask, yes, we do have another pair of gloves just like those at home.
As I type this, the air outside is pulsing with the sound of helicopters. The great and good (and rich) are being ferried back to their hotels from the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. There’s rejoicing here even though the British drivers didn’t win, because the Red Bull team that took first and second place is based in MILTON KEYNES.
Hooray!
(Thanks to Jeremy Cooper for permission to use the photo from Friday’s edition of the Whitehall Villa blog – see below.)
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June 15, 2009 by Ruth
The annual Whitehall Roman Villa dig started today. It’s good to see old friends, meet new people and get muddy together as we unearth more evidence of what it was like to live in Northamptonshire under Roman rule.
Jeremy Cooper’s doing a blog on the dig website. This enables people who aren’t there to see what’s going on and those of us who are to find out what it is we’re actually doing. When you’re head down in a trench, it’s sometimes hard to tell.
Click here to find out more about the Open Day on Sunday 12 July.
Posted in Uncategorized | 9 Comments »
June 13, 2009 by Ruth
Just back from a great afternoon at Milton Keynes’ Living Library. The original idea behind the Living Library – as you’d guess from the shot above – was to give borrowers a chance to meet people about whom they might already have fixed ideas. The local version expanded into the chance to meet all sorts of interesting folk – not only the ‘living books’ but the readers, who turned out to be a fascinating bunch.
I guess we all move in our own restricted circles, and in mine I don’t think there’s anyone who can chat to customers across her supermarket till in six different languages, or who earns a living wage as an artist, or who is brave enough to speak publicly about overcoming depression. Ever heard of Korfball? I hadn’t, but thanks to a conversation in the Green Room I now know it’s a sport that even I might have taken up at school, had it been on offer.
Several budding writers dropped by to chat about promising projects, and it was good to think through my own strategies for getting work done (none of which is entirely successful, to be honest). Some people came because they enjoy reading and wanted to meet a writer, and others because they thought the Living Library was a fine idea and wanted to support it.
Everyone involved in this venture was taking a risk of some kind – the staff that nobody would want to join in, the readers that their book would be disappointing, and the books themselves that they might disappoint their readers – or that nobody would want to talk to them in the first place. I guess the whole thing was an exercise in trust – and in discovering the extraordinary nature of seemingly ordinary people.
Not sure if anybody’s told the Library staff, but as I left, several of the books were beginning sentences with, ‘When we do this next year…’
Posted in Being 'A Writer', Events, Libraries, Readers, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
June 5, 2009 by Ruth
No, really, they do. Or rather they will - and they’ll be happy to talk to anyone who wants to borrow them.
Next Saturday (13 June) Milton Keynes Library will be loaning out people in thirty-minute slots as part of the worldwide Living Library movement. Living books are volunteers who combine a willingness to talk with something interesting to talk about. People who’ve seen it in action elsewhere have been bowled over by how well it works.
The ground rules and the current books on offer can be found here. Last time I looked there was a Firefighter on the list. So if you fancy meeting one without having to set light to something first, this could be your big chance.
No prizes for guessing who ‘writer’ is. If it’s not all too embarrassing, edited highlights will appear here afterwards. (If it is, there will just be a photo of the teeshirt.)
Posted in Events, Good reads, Libraries | Leave a Comment »
May 27, 2009 by Ruth
Great to see Harry Sidebottom’s first ‘Warrior of Rome’ book up in the bestsellers lists. All the people who got hold of signed first editions last summer at Heffers should be rubbing their hands with glee…
For those who don’t know, ‘Fire in the East’ is a military adventure featuring Ballista, a Roman officer who’s risen through the ranks of ‘expendable barbarians’. He’s sent to the Eastern fringes of the Empire on a risky mission which is both ill-conceived and under-resourced in every area – except one. Unknown to him, Rome has sent him an abundant supply of spies and informers.
There’s a strong whiff of authenticity about this novel, which is hardly surprising since the author is a ‘real’ specialist in ancient warfare based in Oxford. (I was about to retype that sentence to make it clear that it’s the specialism that’s based in Oxford, not the warfare, but in the light of the recent hoo-hah about the Poetry chair, I’ve decided to let it stand.)
Modesty should forbid me to mention that Harry Sidebottom also has very fine tastes in fiction, but modesty is not a quality much prized in publishers’ marketing departments, so his views on Ruso can be found here under ‘Book 2′.
Posted in Good reads, Other writers | Leave a Comment »
May 17, 2009 by Ruth
Simon Brett began his speech at the Crimefest Gala Dinner with a line that ran something like, ‘It’s very exciting for a writer to be in a room with more than one person in it.’
How true. Having spent the weekend in a perpetual state of excitement, I now feel the need to lie down quietly in a darkened room for a considerable length of time.
Crimefest was entertaining, educational, and overwhelming. I have a strong suspicion that by the end I was talking complete rubbish, so apologies to anyone who thinks the same thing. With luck I’ll recover the power of coherent speech in time for the Historical Mystery Writers panel at the Steyning Festival on 28 May.
Posted in Being 'A Writer', Crime writing, Events | 3 Comments »
May 11, 2009 by Ruth
It’s nearly here! Just thought I’d mention it.
I’m on a ‘Mystery in History’ panel with Cassandra Clark (Medieval mysteries), Jane Finnis (Roman Britain), and Roger Hudson (Ancient Greek) at 3 o’clock on Thursday afternoon. Edward Marston has been given the challenge of pulling it all together.
Having done my part early, I’m hoping to relax, sit back and enjoy all the other splendid events on offer. Here’s the rest of the Crimefest programme.
Posted in Crime writing, Events | 3 Comments »
