One fun thing that happened while I was away was that my book was featured on 'Royalty Free Fiction'. It's a blog about books about historical figures that weren't kings and queens. As it says on the Home Page, "History is full of ordinary people with extraordinary stories." James Brooke definitely qualifies. He was the son of an East India Company official whose main achievement in his youth was running away from his English boarding school. He could so easily have become just another dodgy merchant, doing a bit of smuggling here and a dubious deal there, but history took him to Sarawak at a vital moment and the rest really is history.
The blog is unusual in that it doesn't invite writers to tell people anything specific about their book. Instead it asks why people were moved to write about particular historical figures. If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you probably know why I chose to write my first novel about James Brooke. If you haven't, then why not check out http://royaltyfreefictionary.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/the-white-rajah-by-tom-williams.html? And, while you're at it, have a look at some of the other titles. There's some interesting stuff out there.
No comments:
Post a Comment