Helen Hollick lives in London but is moving to Devon in 2013
with her husband and adult daughter. In between researching
the background information for her historical novels and her
pirate series about Jesamiah Acorne, she spends most of her time helping with her daughter’s horses as chief groom and general runaround. She has a university diploma in early
medieval history – and a passion for pirates.
Welcome, Helen. Tell
us a little about your current release.
Ripples
In The Sand is the fourth Sea Witch Voyage and yet again, Captain Jesamiah
Acorne is in trouble. This time it is with his wife who is cross with him, and
a group of Jacobite rebels who lure him into an attempt at restoring the exiled
King James to the English throne.
I
wrote the first in the series, Sea Witch, purely as a bit of fun, an adventure
story about a charming rogue of a pirate, but Jesamiah came so vividly to life
that I had to write a second adventure – and then a third. Now there is a
fourth, and I plan a fifth and sixth addition. There might even be more – but
that will depend on where Jesamiah takes me.
How
would your main character, Captain Jesamiah Acorne in Ripples In The Sand finish
these statements:
In my free time, I love to: Sit in my
comfortable chair in my Great Cabin aboard Sea Witch, glass of rum in one hand,
a good book in the other. Preferably one that is a bit naughty here and there regarding
disreputable antics conducted by disreputable ladies!
One word my friends and family would
use to describe me is: Quick
to laugh, formidable when crossed. So
that’s six words – are you arguing with a pirate?
The one quality that gets me in
trouble is: My inability to say no.
If I suddenly inherited a lot of
money I would: I am rich anyway, but I would like to buy or build a nice house
for me and my wife overlooking the sea.
If
you could be plopped down in any era and locale in history, when and where
would you want to end up?
I
would like to see what my new home looked like when it was first built, who built it and who lived there. So this
would be North Devon, England in the year 1769/1770.
Fascinating! It must be incredible to live in a place with so many stories in the walls! Tell
us a little about what you’d be doing to occupy your time in that era, and a glimpse at what you’d be wearing and eating.
Oh
I’m going back purely as an invisible observer! *laugh*, I don’t think I would
be at all comfortable with the smells or the fleas or the lack of a morning
shower and clean underwear! Although I
would still have been able to have my morning cup of tea back then. And they
had chocolate, albeit in the form of
drinking chocolate. Dress wise, I wear long skirts anyway (they are remarkably
warm in winter and cool in summer) and I like hats, so I suspect I would get on
with wearing a bonnet.
What was your journey to your first sale like?
What was your journey to your first sale like?
a. Long and winding
b. Like a roller-coaster ride
c. Like a rocket...blast off!
d. Other
a. Long and winding. I had been researching and writing what turned out to become The Kingmaking, the first of my Pendragon’s Banner Trilogy for about ten years. My friends all used to groan when I (frequently) said “When I write my book….”. None of them believed I would actually do it. I was accepted for publication a week after my 40th birthday – and that was 20 years ago!
What’s
next? What can we look forward to reading from Helen Hollick in the future? I
had planned on writing the first of a new adventure series based around a
character who had a minor part in my Pendragon’s Banner Trilogy – but Ripples
In The Sand has only just been released, yet I am already getting demands for
“what happens next”, so it looks like I will be having another date with my
Jesamiah!
Thank you, Helen. We look forward to learning more about you and your book tomorrow.
Answer Helen's question below for a chance to
win a copy of Ripples in the Sand. Include your email
address in the form of name[at]domain[dot]com and respond before 8:30 a.m. EDT this Friday
morning to qualify for the drawing. This week, it doesn't matter where you live...everyone's welcome to enter!
In one scene in Ripples In The Sand, Jesamiah is attending a
fairly formal gathering. He meets Sir Ailie Doone (a descendant of the famous outlaws, the
Doone Clan of Exmoor, made famous by R.D. Blackmore’s novel Lorna Doone) This
conversation takes place:
[Sir Ailie Doone] put his empty glass on another servant’s tray,
took a replacement.
“I strongly advise you, Captain, put your scurrilous past behind
you and live an honest life henceforth.”
“Sound advice. I expect my wife will approve.”
“That she may, and that it is, but are you likely to follow it?”
Jesamiah returned the candid gaze. Answered with three words. “Shouldn’t think so.”
What advice have you been given that you knew made sense, but you
had no intention of following?
Posts
2 comments:
I thoroughly enjoyed answering your questions - thank you for inviting me onto your blog!
Welcome, Helen! What an intriguing question. I don't know if I've ever intentionally not followed advice I knew to be good, but it's happened nonetheless.
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