Want a free copy of The Disappearing Rose?
Renee will award one to a randomly selected commenter who reveals the
title of the very first time travel/time cross-over book he/she ever
read.
Blurb:
The two little Princes in the Tower disappeared five centuries ago – so what are they doing in our time?
As far as Dane and Paige are concerned, it’s an ordinary enough summer. They’re in England to visit relatives and portray medieval kids in some historical documentary. Nothing strange about that. Their father’s a filmmaker, and they’re used to that sort of thing. What makes this project a bit different is the family heirloom, an ancient medallion capable of transporting them, and their English cousin, Jack, back to the fifteenth century. Now, instead of recreating history, they’re living it – along with two young princes who disappeared from the Tower of London and were never seen again. And unless they can find a way to help them, they might share the same fate.
Qs and As:
(Q) Thank you for joining us today. Renee.
Before we begin, please tell our readers where they can find you and a little bit about yourself.
I can be found at my website
(http://reneeduke.ca) and on Facebook, though both are quite basic at the
moment and due to be revamped.
BIO: Renee Duke grew up in both England and Canada and has dual nationality. A former ECE teacher and Out-Of-School programmer, she has worked extensively with children in all age brackets. She especially enjoys sharing her own love of history through interactive programmes designed to help kids recreate the past.
(Q) Tell everyone a bit about your
books including buy links.
The Disappearing Rose, is the
first of five books in my Time Rose series. The series focuses on an
ancient medallion that has the power to transport kids through Time
and get them to help children who are in trouble. It seeks one
particular child, but in order to help her, other children have to be
helped, too. The medallion has been in the same family for
generations, and generations of children have used it. The current
travellers are Paige, aged 13, her brother Dane, 11, and their cousin
Jack, 9. Paige and Dane are Canadian, and Jack is English. The
Disappearing Rose of the title is England's boy king, Edward V, who,
along with his younger brother, disappeared from the Tower of London
back in the fifteenth century. The modern day kids have to make sure
that disappearance isn't fatal.
Buy Links:
(Q) Where did the concept for the book
(or books) come about?
I love the Tower of London, and I've
been interested in the mystery behind the disappearance of the little
princes ever since I was a child. I suppose it was inevitable that I
would eventually write about them. I didn't necessarily think of
doing it as a time travel story, but that's how it worked out, and
ideas for succeeding books in the series came from doing this one.
(Q) How long did it take you to finish,
from concept to final product?
Over two years. There was a lot of
historical data to go through, and since what happened to the
princes, and who caused it to happen, is still quite a fairly
controversial subject, there were a lot of theories to sift through.
Besides that, I was still working as a teacher and raising my
offspring when I started The Disappearing Rose and couldn't
devote myself to it full time.
(Q) Which authors have most influenced
your own writing?
I don't know if how much they’ve
influenced my own writing, but my favourite historical fiction
writers are Norah Lofts, Jean Plaidy, and Edward Rutherfurd, my
favourite contemporary fiction writers are Elizabeth Peters, Leonard
Wibberley, and Mary Stewart, and my favourite Sci-Fi/Fantasy writers
are Robert Heinlein and Patricia Wrede. I'm also a great admirer of
P.G. Wodehouse whose humour I don't think anyone else is ever going
to come close to.
(Q) What do you do for fun other than
writing?
I read, watch TV, and go to the
theatre. When younger, I also used to travel extensively and go
horseback riding. I still travel (just not as much), but getting up
on a horse is just a lot tougher than it used to be.
(Q) Do you have any favorite place
where you feel your Muse is more apt to come and play while you
write? Or perhaps you listen to music? If so, what do you listen to?
My Muse drops in anywhere, anytime, in
regards to initial ideas, but classical and easy listening music can
sometimes spark creativity too.
(Q) In your ideal world, put in order
those of most value to you: true love, family, success at writing,
world peace, clean air and water, other.
Success in writing is important to me,
but family and love come first. The others, in order, would be an
end to hunger and oppression, world-wide clean air and water, a
respect for all living things, and world peace. That's last
because, if you achieve the others, it will come, too.
(Q) Plotter or pantser?
A combination. I always have a basic
idea of where I want to go with a book, but let the characters and
the story itself take me there after I get started.
(Q) Coffee or tea?
I'm allergic to coffee, and although
this is sacrilege for someone who holds a British passport, I'm not
that fond of tea. I prefer cocoa or hot chocolate.
(Q) Do you have any new projects that
you are working on? If so, what are they?
My current project is Book Three of the
Time Rose series, which is set in the Okanagan Valley of BC, where I
now reside. The first two books are set in England and the last two
will be in Europe.
(Q) What do you do to market your work?
How did you start and where do you learn to market?
I really haven't learned how to
market yet. This is all new to me. Other than mailing out notices
to everyone who has ever supplied me with their e-mail address, and appearing on blogs the last couple of weeks, this is my first venture into marketing.
(Q) If you'd like to add anything,
please do so.
I believe history should be fun as well
as instructive. I've been doing interactive history units with
6-13-year-olds for several years now, and a Teacher's Guide for The
Disappearing Rose should soon be available.
(Q) How about an excerpt to tantalize
the readers?
Excerpt from The Disappearing Rose
While they were eating, Paige continued
their earlier conversation. “If we do connect to the princes again,
how are we going to explain that disappearing act you did last time?
They must have wondered where you went—and why the people you
claimed to be related to had never heard of you.”
Dane took a long suck of his ice-lolly
before answering. “I’ve been wondering about that. It might be
best to just go with the truth.”
“We can’t,” said Paige. “They’d
freak. We already know Ned couldn’t handle anything too
‘abstruse’. The concept of time travel is about as abstruse as
you can get. We don’t even understand it ourselves.”
“I know but—”
“But nothing,” said Paige. “You
told me how they reacted to your flashlight. They thought it was
magic—black magic. Back then, people thought anything they didn’t
understand was black magic. They even used it to explain the king’s
marriage to Elizabeth Woodville. Rumour had it that she and her
mother were into sorcery and had put some kind of spell on him.”
“Ned and Dickon were both okay with
the flashlight once I explained it to them,” Dane informed her.
“And I seriously doubt that they thought their mother was a witch.”
“That doesn’t mean they didn’t
believe such things existed,” said Paige. “And even if we
convinced them we weren’t in league with the devil, we’d never
convince anyone else. I can’t say I’ve ever thought about
getting burned at the stake, but I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t like
it.”
“We won’t have to convince anyone
else,” said Jack. “We can just make up answers to other people’s
questions as we go along.”
“Oh, can we? Good at that sort of
thing, are you?”
Thank you, Renee, for visiting my blog during Time Travel month. It was a pleasure to read about your new book, "The Disappearing Rose."
ReplyDeleteThank you for having me.
DeleteRenee, the premise of your story is fascinating. I agree that history needn't be a dry subject, and time travel books like yours are wonderful venues to help kids learn. To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis was one of my first time travel reads, a very different take on the genre. I wish you much success with your writing!
ReplyDeleteThank you. My own first time travel (well, time cross-over, really) was Nevil Shute's An Old Captivity.
DeleteI forgot to mention my first time travel book. It was the classic "The Time Machine" by H.G. Wells. While kind of stodgy writing, the idea stuck and I've been fascinated by the concepts ever since.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Don't forget, readers, you can download several classic time travel books from the 19th C. I'll add the link to the Time Travel Books listed in the upper right column on this blog.