Monthly Archives: April 2020

Q for Quisling

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My 2020 Blogging from A to Z Challenge revisits my best posts from the 2014 to 2019 Challenges.

Q for Quisling (2014)

 A word we often see, maybe use. But do you know how it originated?

Shakespeare perhaps? Or???

In fact, it was a word originating in World War II and appropriate in many contexts. Name one use before you read the original post.

All the research nuggets were unearthed while I was creating the game-world for my novel ‘Wyrm Bait’. Those, evolved into my post-apocalyptic saga Gossamer Flames. And the research is ongoing as rabbit holes keep appearing.

Links to my other A to Z posts can be found here: https://rolandclarke.com/blogging-from-a-to-z/blogging-from-a-to-z-challenge-2020/

To visit other participants see The OFFICIAL MASTER LIST: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1YphbP47JyH_FuGPIIrFuJfAQiBBzacEkM7iBnq6DGDA/

P for Plague

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My 2020 Blogging from A to Z Challenge revisits my best posts from the 2014 to 2019 Challenges.

P for Plague 1350 (2017)

When I re-read this old post, I was reluctant to re-blog it. Is it topical or frightening when there’s a pandemic creating havoc? But my better half advised me that I couldn’t ignore it. Do you agree?

This phrase chimes with today – ‘cleanliness is crucial’. So, be sensible and wash your hands etc., be sensible and inspired.

Before the ‘our timeline’ revelation, will you recognise the real historical event. It’s a major historical event. Could it have been avoided?

I attempted to find a route when constructing my Kanata alternative history. The initial trigger, Leif Eriksson’s permanent colonisation of Vinland, inspired me to rewrite other key episodes in history. I wanted the legacy forged from Vikings merging with the indigenous people to ripple down time. Kanata evolved into my vision of a 21st Century Viking Age.

I’ve been playing A Plague Tale: Innocence, a game set in France in 1348. Its realism is both amazing and terrifying – well, as far as I’ve got, elements disturb me. Not the right escapism at present. But I will finish it – one day.

Here’s a short observation on pandemics and a message from a historical fiction author I follow. Do I write the current ‘plague’ out of my alternative history? Or was it inevitable in any reality?

If you are willing to read a detailed article on our present pandemic, this one is informative – with a crucial lesson.

Expect more alternative history ahead.  

Links to my other A to Z posts can be found here: https://rolandclarke.com/blogging-from-a-to-z/blogging-from-a-to-z-challenge-2020/

To visit other participants see The OFFICIAL MASTER LIST: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1YphbP47JyH_FuGPIIrFuJfAQiBBzacEkM7iBnq6DGDA/

O for Ontario

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My 2020 Blogging from A to Z Challenge revisits my best posts from the 2014 to 2019 Challenges.

O for Ontario (2015)

Lake Ontario was a distant vista when I spent a year at college in Toronto. But it proved a crucial area in the War of 1812 for Gregory Wendell. The author of the diary in ‘Seeking A Knife’, Book 3 of my Snowdon Shadows series, is an Royal Navy officer who sees action on Lake Ontario, prior to meeting a Choctaw girl.

How much do you know about the War of 1812? When I studied British history in the UK, it was a footnote to the Napoleonic Wars. But now I’m learning, initiated by spending a few years in Canada. So far, everyone learnt little about the War at school.

Links to my other A to Z posts can be found here: https://rolandclarke.com/blogging-from-a-to-z/blogging-from-a-to-z-challenge-2020/

To visit other participants see The OFFICIAL MASTER LIST: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1YphbP47JyH_FuGPIIrFuJfAQiBBzacEkM7iBnq6DGDA/

N for Native

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My 2020 Blogging from A to Z Challenge revisits my best posts from the 2014 to 2019 Challenges.

N for Native (2014)

I’ve been interested in and inspired by ‘Native’ or indigenous people for decades. In the 1980s, I campaigned with tribal human rights organisation Survival International, when I was editor of ‘New Ground’, a green-socialist magazine. I’ve worked that concern into some of my writing, including the world of Gossamer Flames.

This post was echoed in later years, as in 2015’s First Nations during the War of 1812. Does my interest in Romany people for another North Wales case relate? Or just on human rights?

Anyway, all the research nuggets unearthed while I was creating the game-world for my novel ‘Wyrm Bait’, evolved into my post-apocalyptic saga Gossamer Flames. And the research is ongoing as always useful – and interesting.

Links to my other A to Z posts can be found here: https://rolandclarke.com/blogging-from-a-to-z/blogging-from-a-to-z-challenge-2020/

To visit other participants see The OFFICIAL MASTER LIST: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1YphbP47JyH_FuGPIIrFuJfAQiBBzacEkM7iBnq6DGDA/

More Inspiration for the Upcoming 2020 IWSG Anthology Contest

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Today’s post on the IWSG Anthology blog carries some of the favourite Inspiring Quotes on Writing from more of our Anthology authors. This week, we offer these to inspire:

https://iwsganthologies.blogspot.com/2020/04/inspiration-for-upcoming-2020-iwsg_15.html?showComment=1586969084688#c1365418653258781343

M for Maid of Norway

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My 2020 Blogging from A to Z Challenge revisits my best posts from the 2014 to 2019 Challenges.

M for Maid of Norway 1317 (2017)

 I developed another key changing point in my AH Viking world when science shifts direction with the support of the alternative dynastic power – but all with historical connections.

Before the ‘our timeline’ revelation, will you recognise the real historical events or the ones that occurred later.

These reworkings of reality are  all because I couldn’t stop constructing my Kanata alternative history. The initial trigger, Leif Eriksson’s permanent colonisation of Vinland, inspired me to rewrite other key episodes in history. I wanted the legacy forged from Vikings merging with the indigenous people to ripple down time. Kanata evolved into my vision of a 21st Century Viking Age.

Expect more alternative history ahead.  

M is also for Masterpiece – the next chapter in my Sparkle Anwyl case, Custody Chain. This is my ongoing WEP/IWSG Challenge entry, started in February with Café Terrace.

Links to my other A to Z posts can be found here: https://rolandclarke.com/blogging-from-a-to-z/blogging-from-a-to-z-challenge-2020/

To visit other participants see The OFFICIAL MASTER LIST: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1YphbP47JyH_FuGPIIrFuJfAQiBBzacEkM7iBnq6DGDA/