Sunday, November 09, 2008

Weekly Geeks #24 - Fun facts about authors


1. Choose a writer you like.

2. Using resources such as Wikipedia, the author’s website, whatever you can find, make a list of interesting facts about the author.

3. Post your fun facts list in your blog, maybe with a photo of the writer, a collage of his or her books, whatever you want.

4. Come sign the Mr Linky here with the url to your fun facts post.

5. As you run into (or deliberately seek out) other Weekly Geeks’ lists, add links to your post for authors you like or authors you think your readers are interested in.


Haven't done a Weekly Geeks for a while, but this one looks like a lot of fun. I've decided to focus on British author, Elizabeth Chadwick.

1. Elizabeth Chadwick won a Betty Trask award (an award for young novelists under the age of thirty five for a first novel of a romantic or traditional nature) for her first ever published novel, The Wild Hunt. (Click link for my review of this book)

2. The award was presented to her by HRH Prince Charles

3. In 1994, Elizabeth Chadwick was hired by Columbia Pictures to write the book of the movie First Knight, which starred Richard Gere and Sean Connery. (Coincidentally, for a very short time I used to know a girl who was an extra in that film!)

4. On her Musical Soundtracks blog, Elizabeth Chadwick shares the songs that she used for inspiration in her writing. Whilst her novels are very firmly placed within medieval times, her musical tastes range from Billy Joel to Metallica, Kate Bush to Feargal Sharkey.

5. Part of her research is done through her passion for reenactment with Regia Anglorum. She can regularly be found dressed up in medieval clothing, cooking and eating medieval food! An added bonus is that she uses some of her own photographs from RA events in her book trailers. I think that gives them an incredibly personal touch!

6. Another of her research tools is to use Akashic record. To find out more about this interesting subject, click here.

7. On her main blog, Living the History, Elizabeth often shares incredibly detailed posts about her research trips etc. If you are at all interested in medieval times, then this should be a stop on your blog rounds!

8. EC's latest books are difficult to get hold of in the US, but a couple of them are being released by Sourcebooks in the US next year. All I can say is make sure you get hold of them, because they are excellent reads, and it would be fantastic if more of her books were available there as well. If you are really interested in getting hold of her books, then I recommend The Book Depository, who have free postage to certain countries around the world. I think that you can also get them from Amazon.ca.

My reviews of the books are in the links below:

The Greatest Knight
The Scarlet Lion
A Place Beyond Courage
The Time of Singing

9. Most of this information was gleaned from Elizabeth Chadwick's recently revamped website.

And that's it for this week's Weekly Geeks post!

16 comments:

  1. Thanks for stopping by my blog Marg. I've not read any of Chadwick's books but I will check my local library. I have been reading and enjoying a bit of historical fiction this year (currently reading The 19th Wife). Living in Australia I couldn't get by without Book Depository and it's free postage :)

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  2. Absolutely! It is often cheaper to buy a book from there, even with the exchange rate, than it is from a book shop here!

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  3. Thanks for featuring me Marg! (I need a blush symbol here!) It was amazing meeting Prince Charles - not so much because of him as a person, but because it was such a contrast to my life up until then. One minute I was filling the shelves at the local supermarket to make ends meet, the next I was shaking hands with royalty! (and never mind that I had written and continue to write scurrilous things about his ancestors!).

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  4. Great author pick, I havent read her yet, but her books sound good.
    http://thebookworm07.blogspot.com/

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  5. I actually considered writing about Elizabeth Chadwick for this week's WG! But then I decided to focus on Victoria Holt instead, since I still had one of her novels on the brain. Great minds think alike.

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  6. I got completely hooked on Elizabeth Chadwick when I spent this summer in England. I can't wait to go back to buy more of her books!

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  7. Elizabeth Chadwick sounds like an interesting woman, and I like that she posted a comment. :-)

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  8. This may seem completely random and out of the blue...but I was curious if there was going to be a 2008 Blog Advent Blog Tour. It was such great fun last year!

    Becky

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  9. There is! The sign up post will be up in the next few days!

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  10. Great post!~ I have never heard of this author, but if her books aren't available in the states that may explain it. I hate when that happens. I have been wondering lately if there are lots of books published here that aren't available in your part of the world?

    I used to read historical fiction quite a bit a long time ago and for some unknown reason, moved away from it. I am going to have to consciously make a decision to go back to it again.

    *smiles*
    Kim

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  11. Interesting! I have not read any of her books; I'll have to check them out. Thanks for sharing!

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  12. Great write up. As you know I have not had the pleasure of reading any of her books yet, but I know I would love her. I just checked several libraries in the lower mainland here in BC and have found that they have all of the books you have reviewed except for The Time for Singing. Which should I read first?
    They also have other books of hers besides.

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  13. Great post. I used to read a lot of medieval set books, but haven't done so in the last few years. This definitely sounds like an interesting author, and how cool that the author features actually drops by your blog!

    Louise

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  14. Louise, I very nearly put something in there about EC being a really nice person as well, but then I thought it might sound like a bit of a suck-up! But then she goes and proves it by dropping by!

    Teddyrose, I think I would read the books in the order that I listed in point 8 and then work my way through her backlist!

    Kim, there is some exceptional HF around these days, so I am sure you will be able to find something you enjoy. If you need inspiration, click on the link to Historical Tapestry, and see if something catches your eye!

    Actonbell, Naida, Linda and Ali - thanks for stopping by!

    Lana, I am going to be really gutted when I finished working my way through EC's backlist.

    Katherine, great minds indeed!

    EC - thanks for stopping by!

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  15. details about her latest research trips. Sounds interesting...thanks for participating in Weekly geeks.

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