Season of mists and mellow
fruitfulness! And of my summer holiday!
My daughter and I planned to go to
Florence in the summer, but we looked at the projected temperatures and thought
– Nope! – so we’re going later this month.
I can’t wait. Florence is one of my
favourite cities in the world. It’s breathtakingly beautiful, and small enough
to walk around. I’ve also been looking at flights to the States for RT next
year, but they’re sky-high. At least I hope they are, because if they’re not,
I’m in trouble!
Travel is an important part of my
life, but in the Georgian era, it was far more difficult and took a lot longer.
It could take five days to get from York to London, for instance! A lot
depended on how much you could afford, if you had your private vehicle and the
pace you were prepared to go.
Even my characters in this month’s
release, “Mad For Love,” were subject to the travel restrictions of the time.
Unless they could fly, and we haven’t seen that one yet.
This book is all about Bacchus, a
character who has fascinated me for most of my life. Bacchus is a god of
opposites, and of the world turned upside down. So he is king when the mad rule
the world, he is the man who drives people to a trance-like frenzy with wine
and dance and song.
My favourite painting is Titian’s
“Bacchus and Ariadne.” It’s a revolutionary painting, from a history of art
point of view, with terrifying risks taken with colour and a geometry that a
younger artist wouldn’t even attempt. If you’re in the mood, try drawing the
triangles in the painting, following the obvious points.
But apart from the technical
brilliance of the work, it’s a painting about falling in love. Ariadne’s lover,
Theseus, has just sailed off and abandoned her (you can see the sails of his
ship in the distance) and Bacchus, leading a procession of his Bacchantes, sees
her and falls instantly in love with her. In the sky you can see the
constellation he created for her crown.
Their eyes are meeting for the first
time, and they’re in love.
How could I resist? So writing this
book is even more exciting for me. In this, Bacchus is an eighteenth century
nobleman, and he finds his love in the daughter of one of his enemies. He knows
her mother is his enemy, but in order to defeat her, he has to find out who she
is, to discover her attributes and defeat her with them. And he has to rescue
his lady from her mother’s schemes. But in doing so, he unwittingly repeats
some of the motifs from his own legend.
You can pre-order the book here: https://www.samhainpublishing.com/book/5215/mad-for-love
Or here at Amazon: www.amazon.com/Mad-Love-Even-Gods-Fall-ebook/dp/B00NW6FVC6
(It’s a dollar cheaper at Samhain!)
I went to the Imperial War Museum this
summer, which has just reopened after a 4 year facelift. Originally, the museum
was the Bethlem Hospital, better known as Bedlam. So I could have a good look
at the building, and talk to the curators about the restoration. They have
discovered a lot of features of the original building, like some places in the
stone where chains had been driven, and bars at the windows. Grim. But from a
research point of view, fascinating.
And let’s not forget the reason the
War Museum was built. Britain has been commemorating the First World War all
year. It began a hundred years ago this year, and resulted in the death of a
generation of young men. On November 11th we have Armistice day, and
the second Sunday in November is Remembrance Sunday. On the 11th
hour of the 11th day every year there is a minute’s silence for the
fallen. This year it will be even more poignant.
