Tag: Victorian Era

Dear Reader #88

Dear Reader,

This week, I discovered that my direct ancestors John Dean and Joan Fuller emigrated to America. They arrived in Massachusetts in the 1630s, following Joan’s uncles, Edward and Samuel Fuller, who arrived as Founding Fathers on the Mayflower. More about this in future posts.

The Moon doing its Saturn impersonation.

A great week for my Eve’s War Heroines of SOE Series, #1 in America, Australia, Britain and Canada. Many thanks to everyone who made this possible.

Merthyr Mawr this week.

For the man who has everything, Madame Dowding‘s Carlton corsets.

For Christmas, I received a DNA test kit to assist me with my family history research. The result arrived today.

I’m 52% Welsh
26% European, which includes Belgium, England, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Switzerland
19% Scottish, which in this case also includes Ireland and Brittany
3% Scandinavian, mainly Norway, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Denmark and Sweden

Some of my ancestors emigrated and settled in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, Virginia and California.

The great thing about ancestry and DNA is that the DNA link enables you to identify ancestors who have escaped the written record, so I anticipate lots of new exciting discoveries

Breaking news: through DNA, I’ve discovered that my 9 x great grandfather, John ap Evan (John son of Evan) and his wife, Barbara Aubrey, established the Welsh Tract, pictured, in Pennsylvania. He arrived in America with his fellow Quakers in 1683.

A DNA map. My ancestors, 100 years after arriving in Pennsylvania. More about this in future posts.

As ever, thank you for your interest and support.

Hannah xxx

Tags Astronomy, DNA, Family History, Founding Fathers, French Resistance, Genealogy, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Photography, Second World War, Social History, Special Operations Executive, Victorian Era, Wales

Ann's War Eve’s War Sam Smith Mystery Series Saving Grace

Authors Give Back

I’m supporting Smashwords’ Authors Give Back campaign where authors offer readers free or discounted books during this difficult time. All my books are discounted and you will also find the list of free titles here

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/hannahhowe

Tags Book Offers, Books in Bulgarian, Detective Fiction, Free Books, French Resistance, Historical Fiction, Mystery Fiction, Psychological Mysteries, Second World War, SOE, Spanish Civil War, Victorian Era

Dear Reader

Dear Reader #17

Dear Reader,

This week, I completed the first draft of Snow in August, Sam Smith Mystery Series book sixteen. Snow in August is set in a small coastal village in wild West Wales, a new location for Sam.

Readers of the series might be in for a surprise when they start this story. I won‘t give the details away now, but the book will be available for pre-order later this month.

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Over the past year I have had the honour of being editor-in-chief of Mom’s Favorite Reads eMagazine. With twelve magazines published I would like to thank our talented group of contributors and the skill and dedication of our editorial staff. I’m very proud of our achievements with Mom’s Favorite Reads and look forward to scaling even great heights in our second year.

Here’s the blurb for the latest issue.

The September issue of our popular eMagazine!

In this Back to School issue:

Young Writers, Humour, Poetry, Travel, Short Stories, Puzzles and Articles including:

What is Adoption?

Power Animals

What is Happiness and How Can We Find It?

Read or download your copy FREE!

https://issuu.com/momsfavoritereads/docs/vol-2_iss-9_momsfavoritereads

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Delighted that Sandra, who translated the five books in my Ann’s War series, has offered to translate Saving Grace into German 🙂

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A lovely quote from screenwriter Ernest Lehman when discussing writing the script for North By Northwest. I am sure most authors will identify with this.

”Typical of a writer, I was stalling, losing myself in yet more research.”

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Sam’s Song is moving towards the top of the Amazon charts again this weekend , but I have mixed feelings about that in light of continued reports of workers being mistreated by the company. There is a brutally about Amazon that makes me feel increasingly uneasy about contributing to its profits.

Photo by Tobias Dziuba on Pexels.com

“Clear as the dew it kindles on the spray

Across the shadows of each shelving lawn,

The rising sun, with low and level ray

Scatters the cold, grey phantoms of the dawn.

Like ghosts, they flee, like dreams expire

Within the elemental fire

Of our first calm October day.”

John Jay Chapman

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As ever, thank you for your interest and support.

Hannah xxx

Tags Amazon, Mom’s Favorite Reads, Movies, Mystery Fiction, October, Parenting, Poetry, Psychology, Victorian Era, Wales

Ann's War Sam Smith Mystery Series Saving Grace

Walking Away From Amazon

Interesting how the kaleidoscopic patterns in publishing change. Since July, at least ten of my books have featured regularly in the top fifty in Australia, so Australia is becoming the home of my books. Maybe I will set a Sam Smith story there one day. Also, because Amazon doesn’t have the ability to publish books in numerous languages, and my aim is to publish books in a variety of languages, other retailers are becoming more important. For my paperbacks, Amazon are now irrelevant because Gardners are my main outlet. And the profits from paperback sales easily eclipse the profits from eBook sales. All this is good, methinks. I don’t think in terms of success, I think in terms of enjoyment. And the path I’m following now, away from focusing exclusively on Amazon and eBook sales, is certainly an enjoyable one 🙂

SAVING GRACE AUDIO BOOK

Cover reveal for the audiobook version of Saving Grace. The audiobook will be published in October and will be available from iBooks, etc.

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Cover reveal for the audiobook version of Blackmail, Ann’s War Book Three. Blackmail will be published in November.

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A satisfying weekend for my books with a huge boost in sales on Barnes and Noble, seven titles just outside the top 💯 in Italy, Sam’s Song at #4 in America, Boston a hot 💯 new release and Saving Grace a bestseller also in America. Furthermore, yesterday Sam’s Song was featured alongside Mary Poppins, Janet Evanovich and J.K. Rowling.

27433ACC-2B15-4391-8333-31D4CBBD8852 Writing and publishing should be about fun and we had great fun this afternoon recording a video for a leading book promoter. I was chief script writer, autocue operator and camera person while Daniela Jones provided the onscreen talent. The video is with the promoter now and it’s up to him how he will use it, but I hope I can share it with you soon. This video is part of a package that will transform book promoting. Some promoters are elitist and don’t give everyone a fair chance, but soon that will change. The target audience is two million readers. Exciting, I’m sure you will agree.