Friday, March 1, 2013

The Glorious Twelfth by Alan Calder



The Glorious Twelfth is my second novel, set mainly in my native Caithness with forays into France, Italy, Egypt and Poland. The genre is mystery/suspense with a thread of romance running through the story.

Genesis of the Glorious Twelfth

In The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown speculates that the Holy Grail lies buried in the filled in crypt of Rosslyn Chapel near Edinburgh. This mysterious church was built by the Sinclairs in the first half of the fifteenth century, by which time the clan was well established in Caithness where it still holds the Earldom. Caithness, then remote and inaccessible, would have provided a much better hiding place for the Grail than Rosslyn, especially after the Sinclairs began to build a series of heavily fortified castles round the Caithness coast. In Caithness, the Sinclairs also built several mausoleums where many generations of their upper echelons were laid to rest. One of these, an enchanting building with an ogive shaped roof, is built over the remains of an ancient chapel to St Martin and surrounded by a graveyard which once contained a class II Pictish stone, conferring great antiquity on the site.                                             
 

The Glorious Twelfth- Blurb
The Glorious Twelfth opens as archaeologist Ben Harris finds a Celtic stone and evidence of a medieval shipwreck on the Noster estate of Sir Ranald Sinclair. Careless talk by Ben at a conference in Paris sparks off a robbery at  Sir Ranald’s mausoleum, uncovering a treasure that has been hidden for centuries. The robbery follows the opening day of the grouse season, hence the title of the book. The chief villain, grail fanatic Russian Boris Zadarnov, also abducts Sir Ranald’s wayward daughter, Fran, who is already in love with Ben. American oilman Al Regan, a neighbour of Sir Ranald, leads a rescue party to Paris where Fran is freed and most of the treasure recovered, but the thieves escape with a ruby encrusted chalice.
     For a series of misdemeanours, including failing to spot that the Celtic stone was a fake, Ben is sacked from his university job. He finds consolation in the arms of Fran and moves north to continue treasure hunting, making the discovery of his life near one of the ancient Sinclair castles. Has he found the greatest archaeological prize in Christendom, the Holy Grail? Will he be able to protect it from the malevolent attention of Alexei, younger brother of the deceased Boris?

 The Glorious Twelfth- Opening Excerpt

Ben Harris was examining pottery fragments in the dig tent, already warming up under an August morning sun, when he heard the shout. It was from Angela in the trench on top of the hillock which the locals had always called, The Hill of Peace.

     “Ben, I’ve got something!”

It wasn’t normal to call the field archaeologist for routine finds such as pieces of pottery, so he picked up his trowel and brush and rushed up the path to the dig. In his haste he forgot to put on the wide brimmed kudu skin hat, which normally restrained his longish mop of fair hair and gave him protection from the sun. He was excited by the call, not least because this was his first dig as the boss and the site had certainly looked of interest on the geophysics survey, carried out at Easter by a colleague.

      Angela was on her knees in the metre deep trench, bounded by the foundations of a simple rectangular building, gradually revealed over the previous two weeks. She was carefully prising the compressed soil from a flat stone surface, in the middle of the floor of the building.

     “It’s incised; look there’s a curved line. I don’t think it’s a plough mark.”

     “Not a metre down. I’ll start recording and fetch the laptop just in case.” If it was an important find, he wanted to record the moment as it happened and not have to stage a reconstruction.

     “There’s more, it’s a fish, I’ve got the tail,” she shouted, as he returned with the laptop.

     “Wow, we have got something here.” Looking over her shoulder, Ben could see the fan of the salmon’s tail materialise from the dust. It was about half life-size and pleased him infinitely more than any of the real wild ones he’d caught with rod and line. “Let me check the geophysics.” His mind was racing at the prospect of an undiscovered Pictish stone. 

     “Is it that big anomaly we saw?” Angela asked.

     “Spot on. That’s it.” He perched the laptop on the edge of the trench, allowing her to see the dark shadow on the trace.

     “So, there’s a lot more of it to uncover.”

     As they bent down over the stone again, a shadow covered Ben. He looked up to see the tall slender figure of Fran, daughter of Sir Ranald Sinclair, the proprietor and dig sponsor, on the other side of the trench, blocking out the sun.  She was standing with her arms folded below her breasts, tapping a sandal-covered foot on the edge of the trench, causing a mini-collapse of soil.

     From Ben’s low position in the trench, his first sight was the silhouette of her long legs showing through the thin fabric of her dress. Scanning up further, the sun was neatly eclipsed by her head and sparkled through the outer frizz of her lustrous deep copper coloured hair. It gave her a goddess-like halo, accentuated by the refraction of light through the prisms of her long dangling ear-rings. Her challenging presence made him think of Boudicca, the early Iceni  Queen who took on the Romans.

      Ben narrowed his focus on her face. He got a fleeting impression of self-satisfaction as her eyes left the stone and met his briefly, with the faintest of smiles. She turned sharply on her heel and disappeared into the light without uttering a word. Her departure left him looking into the sun, temporarily blinded, but with the optical memory of her shape still imprinted behind his eyes. Ben shook his head to restore his sight and push her image to the back of his mind. The other students and volunteers on the dig began to assemble round the periphery of the trench, attracted by the allure of the square foot or so of exposed stone.

     “What was that all about?” asked Angela.

     “She seems very interested in the stone,” said Ben.

     “I think she fancies the archaeologist,” said Angela with a hint of menace.

      Ben did not rise to Angela’s bait. He suspected a personal sub-text on her part. She was being very nice to him and always seemed to be hovering within easy reach.

     “I could lift it out for you with the JCB,” said Jay Fuller, an American based on the main platform of the Caithness Shelf oilfield, a few miles offshore. Jay volunteered on his rest days,  a break from the tedium of the production schedule. The other students sniggered at his unprofessional enthusiasm.

     “All in good time, Jay; but you’re right; we will need the JCB for this one.”  Ben gave Fuller a break. He didn’t want to exploit his minor gaffe. He also realised that he would have to rethink the digging plan in the light of the discovery.

     “Is it tea time?” asked the beaming Angela.

     “Okay, let’s take an early tea break and think about what we need to do next.”

     Over the tea break they discussed a new plan to focus on trench three. Ben  would join Angela on the stone and the others would work on fully digging out the rest of the trench. He also called Sir Ranald Sinclair, owner of the Noster Estate to tell him about the find and it was agreed that the proprietor would visit the dig at five p.m.

 

Links




 Best wishes to all

Alan Calder

 

Saturday, February 23, 2013

THE FAB FIVE CONTEST

It's contest time!

The Wisconsin Romance Writers of America's 2013 FabFive contest submission deadline is closing in on us. All submissions must be received by midnight Friday.

Some of our categories have low entry counts this year. That makes your odds of becoming a finalist and getting your work in front of an agent or editor better than ever in this highly-popular contest. 
  
FabFive is available to writers unpublished in book-length romance fiction during the past five years. 

Self-published authors may also apply. Your entry must be limited to the first 2,500 words of your manuscript and must be submitted electronically. For an entry form and complete details regarding rules and eligibility, click the Contests link on our website: http://www.wisrwa.org

Grab this opportunity for a critique of your work and the chance one of our final round judges may ask to see more of it.  In last years contest, agents and editors requested eight full manuscripts and eight partials from our finalists. 

Inspirational writers: We've established a new category just for you! 

Our fees continue to be among the lowest for contests of this type - just $18 for WisRWA members and $20 for all other entrants. 

Deadline for entries is 11:59 CST, March 1, 2013. Categories are limited to thirty-five submissions each, so enter early to beat the rush
Here's our lineup of categories and final round judges for 2013: 
   Historical: Amanda Bergeron, Harper Collins
   Inspirational: Natasha Kern, Natasha Kern Literary Agency
   Paranormal/ Fantasy/ Futuristic/ Time Travel: Latoya Smith, Grand Central Publishing
   Romantic Suspense: Katherine Pelz, Berkley
   Series Contemporary(Long/Short): Dana Hopkins, Harlequin Enterprises
   Single Title: Nalini Akolekar, Spencerhill Associates
   Women's Fiction: Paige Wheeler, Folio Literary
   Young Adult: Laura Bradford, Bradford Literary Agency 

- Joe Fraser, FabFive Coordinator (jfraser6353@yahoo.com)

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

THE SHEILA CONTEST

Valley Forge Romance Writers is proud to announce The Sheila Contest opens for entries on March 1, 2013

Fee: $25 for VFRW members, $30 for non-members

Deadline: April 12, 2013

Eligibility: all RWA members, published and unpublished, who have not published a full-length novel (40K words or more) in the category entered at the time of the contest deadline and within the past five years.

Entry: Total of 35 pages, including synopsis (not to exceed 5 pages).

Categories: Single Title Romance, Historical, Fantasy/Futuristic/Paranormal, Women's Fiction with Romantic Elements, Romantic Suspense, Young Adult.

Judges: Entrants will receive a detailed score sheet from four qualified judges, including PRO and PAN members.

Categories and Final Judges: Romantic Suspense – Katherine Pelz, The Berkley Publishing Group; Historical – Elizabeth (Lizzie) Poteet, St. Matin's Press; Women's Fiction – Alex Logan, Grand Central Publishing; Single Title – Emilia Pisani, Gallery Books; Paranormal - Megha Parekh, Grand Central Publishing; YA – Wendy Loggia, Delacorte Press/RHCB.

Top Prize: Certificates. First- through fourth-place winners will have their names printed in RWR magazine.

FMI, http://www.vfrw.com/contest.

Friday, February 1, 2013

HAPPY IMBOLC!






For those interested in the Celtic traditions, to honor this first day of spring you can upload a free copy of my novella Deirdre (a retelling of Deirdre of the Sorrows) at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/237564


Friday, January 25, 2013

Roast Chicken with Oatmeal Stuffing-Happy Robert Burns Day!

Pat McDermott here, wishing everyone a Happy Robert Burns Day, and I can't think of a better recipe to help celebrate than this scrumptious roast chicken and its wonderfully Scottish stuffing and bread sauce.

Some years ago, while driving around New Hampshire's Lake Winnipesaukee, I stopped in a Celtic store that probably no longer exists and purchased a book of Traditional Scottish Recipes by Rosalie Gow. Most of the recipes dealt with rabbit and other obscure game that will probably never enter my kitchen (but never say never, sez I). The haggis, Cloutie Dumplings, and Drambuie SoufflĂ© sounded interesting, but the Roast Chicken with Oatmeal Stuffing caught my attention right off. The recipe simply stated: "If you have never tried chicken or turkey stuffed with oatmeal and served with bread sauce, I advise you to do so now."

Compelling words, and rightfully so. The bread sauce is to die for, simple and healthful. I found the oatmeal stuffing delicious, but better, in my opinion, when enhanced with a few fresh herbs. If you have never tried it, I advise you to do so now!

ROAST CHICKEN with OATMEAL STUFFING and BREAD SAUCE
 
For the Stuffing:
1 cup oatmeal or loose oats
Poultry herbs, such as fresh sage and/or thyme
¼ cup butter (½ stick)
1 small onion, minced
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350°. Mix oatmeal, onion, herbs, and salt and pepper together in a bowl by rubbing into the butter. Stuff and truss a good-size roasting chicken. Smear chicken with butter and/or bacon fat and roast until done, basting occasionally. (Note: A pop-up timer is always helpful when roasting chicken.)

For the Bread Sauce:
Remove crusts from 2 large slices of bread. Process into crumbs. Place crumbs in small saucepan with 1¼ cups milk, salt and pepper, and a small onion stuck with 4-5 cloves. Bring to a boil. Simmer to infuse flavors for 20-30 minutes. Remove onion, adjust seasonings, and serve with chicken. (Note, some cooks mince the onion and leave it in the sauce. A matter of taste, entirely.) Enjoy!

Friday, January 4, 2013

CELTIC ROSE WRITERS AND FRIENDS






Once again this weekend my blog will be open to Celtic and historical writers, to post promotion or chat in the Comments section of this post.  By all means, introduce yourselves and leave us some blurbs, excerpts and links.  If someone is looking for a read, feel free to browse.   No pressure.  If you want a closer look at a book, just copy and paste the buy link in your browser.  Authors,  show us your stuff!  :)  Readers, feel free to comment and let us know what you're looking for.  

Running Over Rainbows

Of unicorns and Welsh mountain ponies . . .

 Can a young girl and a sixty-something woman have something in common--say, a white unicorn in the form of a wild mountain pony?



Bil and Bon Franks are thunderstruck at our good fortune of having a four-book saga be accepted by MuseItUp Publishing.
Thanks,  Miriam Newman, for  letting us introduce our first book here on your beautiful site; and for overlooking the niggling little fact that the setting is not “celtic.” Later, yes . . . everyone ends up in St. Patrick’s Ireland.
The centuries old Roman fort of Deva Victrix 
The time is roughly 429 AD. The place, Britannia on the eve of Roman retreat. A 15-year old girl is sent  by her mother to stay for six months with her great-aunt Marrie. She has traveled from the area around the Roman fort Deva Victrix (modern Liverpool) west to the province of Lindum (present day Lincoln).

The crumblng remains of Roman Lincoln (Lindum)

The girl is a hellion, plain and simple. She’s been a tomboy all her life, especially since  the death of her father five years before. Her mother has allowed her to run virtually wild on their ancestral estate. Now, however, she has drawn in the reins in an ancient call to tradition: her daughter Caylith must learn how to become a woman. A landed woman, a woman of influence and means, a woman who will know how to choose a proper mate when the time is right.
So great-aunt Marrie, the aunt of her dead Roman father, is to take the teen into her Roman manor and teach her, among other subjects, money, manners, and proper marriage.
But Caylith has other goals in mind. While her elderly aunt is outdoors where the spirited teen longs to be, she is festering to be free of the linen-storage room where Marrie keeps her busy counting supper towels.
The mischievous redhead cannot be held captive for too long and soon discovers two of her aunt’s long-held secrets.
The book is as much about the elderly Marrie as it is about Caylith. She, too, is a redhead; and she, too, has a certain streak--but she keeps it carefully hidden from everyone. When Caylith begins to discover her secrets, the novel explores the convergence of old and young, reality and magic.
On Christmas Eve, Aunt Marrie schedules a formal dinner for Caylith to show off her newly taught life skills, but Caylith is nowhere to be found. Has she run off to chase a unicorn  . . . or will she manage to save the day, despite still being untamed by her well-meaning aunt?
Our book will debut January 18. Meanwhile, MuseItUp Publishing has given us an early-order buy link with a promise of 20% discount, at this link: http://bit.ly/Z93TBf

Next time we're invited back, we'll publish a short excerpt from the book. We promise, it will appeal to readers from the 'tweens to the twilight years!



The sagas of THE TWILIGHT OF MAGIC