My author spotlight falls on ....J F Penn

I am delighted to welcome

J F Penn

Author of 

J.F.Penn is the bestselling author of Desecration, as well as the ARKANE series of thrillers. Pentecost, ARKANE Book 1 is currently available for free if you want to try it. Joanna’s site for writers, TheCreativePenn.com has been voted one of the Top 10 sites for writers three years running. Connect with Joanna on twitter @thecreativepenn

*~WELCOME J F Penn~*

What do you love about writing?

Writing is the way I process the world. It’s how I understand the way things work, and how I learn, grow and change, as well as heal. So writing is integral to who I am, and when I don’t write, I start to get crotchety. I always carry a notebook with me, either a Moleskine or Leuchtturm, and there’s a whole stack of them by my desk that (hopefully) nobody else will ever read!

I love to write books, specifically, as a way to learn new things about the world - I’m a research junkie! I want to share with others within a story that engages, entertains and makes people think. I also like to measure my life by what I produce, and a book is a tangible product of time, effort and love. It’s also magic, as people can read those words even many years later and it’s as if they are in my head, so that connection is a critical part too.

Do you write stories for yourself, or other people?

I don’t think I would write novels if I was the only one who read them. I would certainly write something for me as I’ve always written journals with thoughts, poems, musings on the world. But in terms of crafting a story, with all of its complexities and then taking that forward through editing to become a book, that’s something I enjoy doing in order for others to take pleasure in, or to discover something new. 

Why do you choose to write in your particular genre?

I write across several genres, like most authors, and yes, they are based on what I love to read. I love kick-ass action-adventure, and the ARKANE series has been described as ‘Dan Brown meets Lara Croft’. Desecration has shades of crime and mystery, with a hint of darker supernatural, in the vein of John Connolly. My short story series, A Thousand Fiendish Angels, is based on Dante’s Inferno and was influenced by H.P. Lovecraft.

My own voice comes through strongly, but of course, we’re all shaped by what we read and seek out for our own pleasure.



When do you find the time to write, and do you have a favourite place to do your writing?

When I had a day job, I would get up very early to write before work, and now I always try to work on creative things in the morning. I’m definitely a morning person!

When I became a full-time author-entrepreneur, I started trying to work from home all the time, but it drove me crazy, so now I work in the London Library several times a week. It has a fantastic literary pedigree with Agatha Christie, T.S. Eliot, Charles Dickens and many more as alumni. It’s also in St James’ Square in central London, so I often do research trips in the afternoons, as sense of place is so important to my work.


Which writers have inspired you?

Oh goodness, so many! I’m a voracious reader, and I don’t have a TV, so I get through a lot of books every week. On my desk, I have Ben Okri’s poetry collection, Mental Fight, and also Steven Pressfield’s War of Art, a must-read for any creative. Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose was the book that made me want to be a writer, but for genre fiction, I love Lee Child’s Jack Reacher series and James Rollins’ action-adventure books, as well as Lisa Gardner, John Connolly and Stephen King for the darker side. 

Can you tell us what you are writing next?

I’ve only just  published Desecration, a crime novel that opens with a murder in the Royal College of Surgeons and delves into grave robbery, body modification and the genetic engineering of monsters. That’s the first in a new, darker series, and I have just started the next one, Delirium, with a murder in the old premises of Bedlam Hospital. I’ve also started researching the next ARKANE book which will be set in Spain around the themes of Kabbalah
mysticism.

  Chance to win an ecopy of One Day in Budapest in this fabulous giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway


My Thoughts on One day in Budapest

This was the first of the ARKANE thriller books that I had read and , of course, I worried that I wouldn't be able to pick up the story so far into an established series. I was wrong. One Day in Budapest had me hooked from the very beginning and I soon became immersed, not just in the pace of the story, but also in the depth of characterisation and the vivacity of the lead players.

The story opens at the Basilica of St Stephen in Budapest with an audacious theft of a venerated relic, when a call goes out for retribution; the entire city is plunged into a state of violent unrest. Dr Morgan Sierra, psychologist and ARKANE agent, joins forces with Zoltan Fischer, a Hungarian Jewish security advisor, and together they run the gauntlet of violent unrest in order to discover the whereabouts of the Holy Relic.

At just about 79 pages, this is rather more than just a short story, throughout the narrative the pace reads more like a novel as so much action is contained within its pages. At the end of the novella I felt like the story was complete and yet I was also aware that there is so much more to explore with the ARKANE series.

As with all established series it is probably better to start at the beginning but it's by no means essential as I enjoyed this as a stand alone story.

A highly recommended read if you like fast paced thrillers.

***

Review ~ The Forgotten Seamstress by Liz Trenow

December 2013
Harper Collins, Avon

This beautifully layered story is as finely crafted as the quilt on which the story is based. In the present day when Caroline Meadows discovers the forgotten quilt in the attic of her mother’s house, she is entranced by the craftsmanship, but it is the history of the quilt which gradually reveals a story of heart break and forgotten love. 

Gradually, and as the history of the quilt is revealed, we are introduced to Maria Romano, a talented seamstress who, following an ill-fated love affair, has been incarcerated in a mental institution. Using a series of recorded interviews with Maria as an old woman, we are given a glimpse into a forgotten world and as Maria’s tragic story is exposed, Caroline begins to take stock of her own life.

Overall, this is a finely crafted story, with well rounded characters and a real sense of time and place. Both past and present fuse together in rich detail and the story really evokes a sense of memory and an awakening of possibilities.

Well worth reading.

My thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins for my copy of this book.

**At the time of this review The Forgotten Seamstress is currently a 99p kindle download**

Find it here

Review ~ A Final Reckoning by Susan Moody

Severn House Publishers
2013

Thirteen year old, Chantal Frazer’s happy-go-lucky childhood is overshadowed by her elder sister’s murder. Twenty-three years later, Chantal returns to Weston Lodge in the Cotswolds, the scene of her sister Sabine’s murder, which is now converted into a luxury hotel. Determined to find out more about Sabine’s, untimely death, Chantal finds that events were not as clear-cut as she was first led to believe.

The Gothic setting, the chilling characters and misleading clues all add up to a fairly standard murder/mystery, which didn't quite keep my attention. Somehow, the story lacked a sense of authenticity, and I found myself skipping parts of the narrative, which for me is never a good sign. There is potential in some of the novel but the epistolary communication between the sisters seemed a bit contrived and rather uninspired.In the end, I was left feeling let down by the whole story.

Not a great book, but, as always make up your own mind.

My thanks to NetGalley and Severn House for my digital ecopy of this book.

Review ~ The Lake House by Marci Nault

Gallery,Threshold,Pocket Books
2013

On the surface, Victoria Rose and Heather Bregman have little in common. The odds that they would ever strike up a friendship are stacked high against them and yet, when they are brought together in the idyllic setting of Nagog, New England, their unlikely differences are the very bond which brings them together.

Victoria is learning how to come to terms with the life she once left behind, and the breaking of promises made fifty years ago, now leave Victoria feeling alone and vulnerable. On the the other hand, Heather is an international journalist, who is at a crossroads in her life and who has now chosen to live a quieter existence. Both women have their own demons to erase, but what is achingly exposed about the story, is the way in which the author brings together a real sense of community with all its faults and foibles.

For me, the story got off to rather a slow, and it must be said, rather meandering start but about a third of the way into the novel, I began to warm to the characters and empathised more with their personal dilemmas. The lakeside setting is idyllic and is captured very well, and really adds depth to the story.

Overall, this is a pleasant story, about the power of friendship.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my ecopy of this book

Book Beginnings on Fridays....

Hosted by Gilion at Rose City Reader


Book Beginnings on Fridays as stated by the host was started:

"to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires."

You can share on Google + and social media , please post using the hash tag #BookBeginnings and there's also a Mr Linky on the host's blog.

Book Beginnings: Secrets of the Lighthouse by Santa Montefiore

Burb from Goodreads:

Ellen Trawton is running away from it all - quite literally. She is due to get married to a man she doesn't love, her job is dragging her down and her interfering mother is getting on her nerves. So she escapes to the one place she know her mother won't follow her - to her aunt's house in rural Ireland. Once there, she uncovers a dark family secret - and a future she never knew she might have.

Prologue

It is autumn and yet it feels more like summer. the sun is bright and warm,the sky a translucent, flawless blue. Ringed plovers and little terns cavort on the sand and bees search for nectar in the purple bell heather, for the frosts are yet to come and the rays are still hot on their backs. Hares seek cover in the long grasses, and butterflies, hatched in the unseasonal weather, flutter about the gorse in search of food.Only the shadows are longer now and the nights close in early, damp and cold and dark......

The flowery description of the beginning of the book suggests a book of light and yet the ending sentence suggests that perhaps there are some darker forces at work....time will tell as I read on....

Santa Montefiore is the bestselling author of 14 books

Secrets of the Lighthouse

 was published

 in

July 2013 by Simon and Schuster

***

Review ~ Elizabeth of York by Alison Weir

Random House Publishing Group
Ballantine
December 3 2013

I was really excited when I was given the opportunity to read this book in advance of its publication, as Elizabeth of York has long been one of my favourite Tudor queens. The documented evidence of her life and times, and the turbulent period of her early youth certainly has enough information to warrant several books about her life.

As always, Alison Weir has produced an impeccable and very readable biography, which begins with Elizabeth's birth on the 11th February 1466 in the royal palace of Westminster.  Born to Edward IV and his queen, Elizabeth Woodville, she was the first princess to be born to an English monarch for over a century. The news of the birth of a royal princess was met with great jubilation and the prosperity of the ruling house of York seemed secure. However, the dark and violent years which followed Elizabeth's birth would see brother pitched against brother, and the country plunged into political turmoil, which culminated at the ill fated Yorkist defeat at the battle of Bosworth in 1485.

All too often we see repetitive biographies of the great and the good of our historical inheritance, whilst those who somehow stand quietly in the background tend to be forgotten. Such has been the case, I think, with Elizabeth of York, as all too often we see her merely as a shadowy figure against the more robust rendition of Tudor history in relation to her husband and infamous son. It is refreshing, therefore, to view an interesting and very readable account of this most enigmatic of English queens.

I think that Alison Weir has really brought to life the challenging times in which Elizabeth lived and demonstrated how the very survival of the newly established house of Tudor was largely reliant on the convincing political association which Elizabeth brought to the marriage. It is entirely credible that without Elizabeth of York's vital input, the royal house of Tudor would have been much maligned.

If, like me, you love to read historical fiction set during the Plantagenet and Tudor periods in English history; then this is definitely one of those books to have in your historical arsenal. It’s an interesting dip into and out of sort of book, but which also works well, as it reads as easily as a good historical novel. 

My only niggle is that this is one of those books I would prefer to have in hardback rather than on my kindle, as I like to be able to see good illustrations and to be able backtrack within the text.

Highly readable and highly recommended.

My thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing /Ballantine for my advance copy of this book.

***

Review ~ The Lost Duchess by Jenny Barden

Ebury Press
November 2013

Emme Fifield is lady- in -waiting to Queen Elizabeth and as such holds a privileged position at the English court, but this protection does not extend to the capricious nature of a courtier who is hell bent on claiming Emme has his own. When personal scandal threatens to overwhelm Emme, she persuades Sir Frances Walsingham to intervene with the Queen, and gain her approval to allow Emme to sail for the New World, ostensibly to report back to the Queen on activity in one of the new world colonies, but in reality to escape public disgrace.

What then follows is a well written and beautifully researched novel, which takes the reader from the dangerous beauty of the high seas, in the company of a shabby assortment of passengers and crew, to the wild and untamed splendour of the New World, where the indigenous people are not as welcoming as was first believed. Throughout the story, and in fact what gives the book its heart and soul, is the developing relationship between Kit Doonan, a charismatic, and it must be said, handsome mariner, and Emme, whom fate seems to throw together in the most challenging of circumstances.

The story zings along at a cracking pace, there is danger, excitement, romance and deep emotion and by the clever weaving together of fact with fiction, the danger of this untamed period in history comes gloriously alive. By the end of the novel, and with the wild backdrop of the New World firmly ensconced in my imagination, I felt like I had spent time in the company of a wonderful array of adventurers. When the last page was turned, I breathed a heartfelt sigh of relief, not because the story was finished, far from it, but because the book’s ending was really well done.

I have no hesitation in recommending this book to lovers of well written and decisive historical fiction.

***

**Those who have read The Mistress of the Sea will appreciate the subtle binding together of some of the loose ends which were left at the end of that novel, but it is by no means essential to read this book first as The Lost Duchess is more than capable of standing alone.

There is an interview with the author Jenny Barden where she talks about her inspiration for
The Lost Duchess

Find it here

A little more about Jenny and her writing can be found here:

www.jennybarden.com

twitter @jennywilldoit

facebook jennybardenauthor

goodreads Jenny Barden