Author: Goylake Publishing

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Dear Reader

Dear Reader #30

Dear Reader,

I’m delighted to be a member of the talented team involved in Mom’s Favorite Reads.

And to start the new year in style, here’s our January 2020 issue featuring an exclusive interview with Melinda Mullins, star of Remember WENN, M*A*S*H and the Shakespearean stage, a Romance Roundtable, Anna Grace discusses mental health, young writers and so much more.

The new year promises to be my busiest yet with six books scheduled: two Sam Smith novels, Snow in August and Looking For Rosanna Mee; Roots and Branches, the first two novellas in The Olive Tree, A Spanish Civil War Saga; plus Operation Zigzag and Operation Locksmith, the first two novellas in my Eve’s War series about the Special Operations Executive and the French Resistance.

Yesterday, I wrote the first draft of chapters one and two of The Olive Tree: Roots. The stories in this series will be told from two viewpoints: a nurse, Heini Hopkins, and a socialite author, Naomi Parker. Heini rides a bicycle while Naomi drives this SS Jaguar 100, pictured outside the SS Cars building in 1937.

The ‘100’ was the car’s top speed while this image represents the first recorded use of the Jaguar ‘leaper’ mascot.

In Roots, book one of The Olive Tree, my nurse Heini Hopkins is at home tending her sick mother. This item is from my domestic research into the period. I remember using carpet cleaners like these when I visited my grandparents’ house.

A mangle, another item from my domestic research into the 1930s. My nurse, Heini Hopkins, would certainly be familiar with this item, and I can remember seeing similar models when I visited my grandparents’ house.

In The Olive Tree, Heini Hopkins is a nurse specialising in tuberculosis. As the story opens she is tending Mari, her sick mother.

For centuries, tuberculosis was considered ‘the romantic disease’ because it ‘assisted artistic talent’. People believed that the fever and toxaemia associated with tuberculosis helped artists to see life more clearly and that this clarity of mind liberated their creative muse.

You can read my full article here https://hannah-howe.com/the-olive-tree/tuberculosis/

Local views this morning, at Sger.

As ever, thank you for your interest and support.

Hannah xxx

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Dear Reader

Dear Reader #29

Dear Reader,

Delighted to announce the launch of a new series, The Olive Tree.

Roots, book one of The Olive Tree is now available to pre-order 🙂 Book two, Branches, will follow later in 2020 while the series will conclude with Leaves, Fruit and Flowers in 2021.

Here’s the universal link and book description.

https://books2read.com/u/3yvAOL

The Olive Tree – A Spanish Civil War Saga

Set between April 1937 and December 1938, The Olive Tree is a mini-series of five novellas based on true events.

The stories in The Olive Tree – Roots, Branches, Leaves, Fruit and Flowers chronicle the lives of Heini Hopkins, a young nurse from an impoverished part of South Wales, and Naomi Parker, a wealthy author from a privileged background.

In Roots, Heini is home in Wales nursing her sick mother while Naomi is attending launch parties for her latest novel. The civil war in Spain seems a world away, until the fascists bomb and destroy Guernica, murdering hundreds of men, women and children. Heini’s boyfriend, Deiniol Price, a coal miner, feels he must rally to the Spanish Republic’s cause and volunteer for the International Brigades while Naomi’s paramour, Count Nicolas Esteban, a pilot, dreams of glory, fighting for the fascists.

Should the women leave the safety of Wales for the bloody battlefields of Spain? And if they decide to follow their men, what fate awaits them?

Day One of Snow in August on pre-order, and an early Christmas present for Sam. The book is a top 💯 hot new release, sitting alongside mega-bestseller Johnathan Kellerman 🙂

This is exciting, after one day of pre-orders Roots, book one in The Olive Tree, a Spanish Civil War Saga, is #15 on Amazon’s hot new releases chart 🙂

They do things with such grace and elegance on the Continent. Paris Opera’s ballet dancers protesting against austerity.

”Okay, Stan, here’s the plan. We’ll get all the lads from the steelworks to dress up in tutus…”

Could get messy. As with all of Johnson’s policies, I don’t think he’s thought this one through…

Dear reader, this will all make sense when you’re sober in the morning…

Santa knows me too well 🤣

Santa also delivered all these lovely books and DVDs, most to help me with my Spanish Civil War and Eve’s War series.

To my beloved…

Of course, I might be thinking murderous thoughts 😉

The top twelve countries for my books over the past quarter. Many thanks to all my readers for making this another wonderful year.

Happy New Year,

Hannah  xxx

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Dear Reader

Dear Reader #28

Dear Reader,

Snow in August, Sam Smith Mystery Series book sixteen, is now available to pre-order from all major Internet stores, including Amazon. Here is the universal link 🙂

https://books2read.com/u/bpEv8J

As a teenager, Ros McCarthy offered Mark, her baby son, up for adoption. Now, as an adult and a successful author, she wanted to reconnect. With Faye at my side, our task was to locate Mark.

Along the way we learned about Ty Gwyn, a children’s home, and the people who lived and worked there. However, as we probed, some people became nervous and issued threats.

Then, unexpectedly, a murder. Was the murder and our investigation into Mark’s whereabouts connected, or merely coincidence? I suspected the former, then had my doubts as the maze became more complex.

Snow in August, the story of a village and its secrets, a tale of longing and regret, and the realisation on my part that you should always cherish the people you love.

Sam dominates my personal top ten this week. And a new number one, Boston, a story set at Christmas 🎄 

On behalf of Mom’s Favorite Reads I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing Melinda Mullins. Melinda is a mult-talented actress and artist with Shakespearian productions, appearances in M*A*S*H and a starring role in Remember WENN to her name. She’s also led a fascinating life away from the television screen, living in the New Mexico wilderness away from the modern world, and now in rural France. In our interview Melinda talks about her career highlights and offers a revealing insight into her creativity and her personal life. The full interview will be published in January 2020, in Mom’s Favorite Reads.

Many thanks to Adriana for another wonderful translation. We have started the publishing process and the book will be available soon.

As editor of Mom’s Favorite Reads I’m delighted to support Christmas For CAMHS this Christmas. Learn more about this excellent organisation here https://t.co/CSEh8cHiRB?amp=1

Congratulations to my friend and Mom’s Favorite Reads’ cofounder Rebecca Carter (who writes as Ronesa Aveela). Her book about household spirits is referenced in Time magazine!

https://time.com/5753369/the-witcher-history-folklore

It’s believed that the first photograph of a snowman was taken in Wales by Mary Dillwyn (c.1853) one of the first female photographers in the world.

Me, in the bathroom, every morning 🤣

Merry Christmas!

Hannah xxx

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Dear Reader

Dear Reader #27

Dear Reader,

I’m writing chapter twenty-five of Snow in August, Sam Smith Mystery Series book sixteen. Thomas Johnes gets a mention in this chapter. Born in 1748, Thomas Johnes was an MP, printer, writer, landscape architect and farmer. He owned the Hafod Estate where between 1796 and 1801 he planted 2,065,000 trees. In total he planted over three million trees, half a million of them in 1801. We could do with his like today.

Pictured: the Hafod Estate

Snow in August, will be available for pre-order soon. All forthcoming editions of my books will contain a charity page and that page will include this excellent organisation. Please check them out.

https://www.facebook.com/streetvet/

Delighted that Adriana has agreed to continue her translations of my Ann’s War Mystery Series. She’s an excellent translator and I’m honoured that she is associated with my books 🙂 Here is Invasion. Blackmail will follow soon, then Escape.

My personal top ten this week. Nice to see Stardust in there because that was a fun book to write.

This song seems appropriate this week…

Now they’re planning the crime of the century

Well, what will it be?

Read all about their schemes and adventuring

Yes, it’s well worth the fee

So roll up and see

How they rape the universe

How they’ve gone from bad to worse

Who are these men of lust, greed and glory?

Rip off their masks and let’s see

But that’s not right, oh, no, what’s the story?

Look, there’s you and there’s me

That can’t be right?!

Viva la revolución

Week one of Boris Johnson’s new regime and everything is going well so far…

Johnson, in the near future, quoting Kipling.

‘I could not dig: I dared not rob: 

Therefore I lied to please the mob. 

Now all my lies are proved untrue 

And I must face the men I slew. 

What tale shall serve me here among 

Mine angry and defrauded young?’

A friend went for a job interview. The interviewer said, “Describe yourself in three words.” She said, “Not good at maths.” She got the job 😉

Local views this morning.

As ever, thank you for your interest and support.

Hannah xxx

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Dear Reader

Dear Reader #26

Dear Reader,

This week I wrote chapter twenty-two of Snow in August, Sam Smith Mystery Series book sixteen. In this chapter Sam wanders on to the beach and sees bioluminescent plankton, a phenomenon caused by tiny organisms that produce a chemical called luciferin as a defence mechanism to draw predators towards the creature trying to eat the plankton.

Very proud to be a member of the Mom’s Favorite Reads team. Our magazines have proved popular throughout the year and with our December edition I believe we have produced a cracker 🙂

🎄🎄🎄Our Christmas edition! 🎄🎄🎄

In this edition…articles, short stories, recipes, travel, interviews, young writers, poetry and activities for all the family.

Read or download your copy FREE.

Readers familiar with my Sam Smith Mystery Series will know that the stories are based on psychological and sociological issues. Therefore, I’m delighted that blogger and YouTuber Anna Grace agreed to discuss a range of psychological issues in a guest post for my website. If you haven’t seen Anna’s post you can view it here 

https://hannah-howe.com/2019/12/04/anna-grace/

Some political pictorials that caught my eye this week…

Mom’s Favorite Reads‘ charity of the month is Christmas for CAMHS, a charity that supports children and adolescents who will spend Christmas in hospital, often away from their families, because of mental health issues.

The gifts on their wish list are inexpensive, no more than a cup of coffee, so please support this great cause by either: following their Facebook page, sharing their web links, donating via their gift page or by sending gifts. Thank you.

https://www.christmasforcamhs.org.uk

https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/9A29RCVE11LW

https://www.facebook.com/ChristmasForCAMHS/

As ever, thank you for your interest and support.

Hannah xxx