Calamity Chicks 3.1

The third book in the series is Linda’s Lament – here’s a little more about it.

Almost Famous meets 10 Things I Hate About You with elements of Queen's Gambit.
When Jack corners Lin in the playground, she knows exactly what he wants, but she has her own reasons for agreeing. She’s pretty sure Uncle Teddy's daughter never gave those kind of squeezy hugs when she was alive, but if Lin tells anyone, her dad could lose his job. When she finally gets to high school, Jack's back - even more gorgeous and happy to play her leading man in several productions. But the powerful chemistry between Shakespeare's Benedick and Beatrice never makes it off the stage.

By the time she gets to uni, Lin's experienced more sexual awakening than any teenage girl ought to have done, courtesy of touring with her dad’s rock band, a stint at a strict convent school, and an enlightening Spanish holiday. But her biggest education comes from a Hell’s Angel Chapter and a Battle of the Bands contest. Despite kissing a lot of frogs, her prince charming is nowhere in sight, but she can't imagine finding him on a tough engineering degree course.

This cheeky piece of British nostalgia features plucky girls escaping from hairy situations, several handsome hunks, a whole lot of rock bands, and a couple of nasty villains. Feel free to boo and hiss.  

Remembrance Sunday

Remembrance Sunday is held in the United Kingdom as a day to commemorate the contribution of British and Commonwealth military and civilian servicemen and women in the two World Wars and later conflicts. It is held on the second Sunday in November, the Sunday nearest to 11 November, Armistice Day, the anniversary of the end of hostilities in World War I in 1918.
The first UK commemoration of the end of the First World War took place at Buckingham Palace, with King George V hosting a "Banquet in Honour of The President of the French Republic" in the evening of 10 November 1919. The first official Armistice Day events were subsequently held in the grounds of the Palace on the morning of 11 November 1919, which included a two-minute silence at 11am as a mark of respect for those who died in the war and those left behind.
I understand there are several strong feelings about this tradition because for some, Armistice Day was a day for recognising the horrors of war, never to be repeated, and there has been criticism that the focus on veterans and military persons who have died, means the vast majority of the casualties of war (civilians) are forgotten.

Poppies were a common sight, especially on the Western Front. They flourished in the soil churned up by the fighting and shelling. The flower provided Canadian doctor John McCrae with inspiration for his poem 'In Flanders Fields', which he wrote whilst serving in Ypres in 1915. Starting in 1921, the Royal British Legion began selling Remembrance poppies to raise funds for ex-servicemen. Personally. I always buy a poppy and observe the two minute silence both on the 11th and the nearest Sunday. Like many others, the day symbolises the honour of military service, and the debt of gratitude we owe to everyone who fought against those tyrants who would oppress our rights and freedoms. I know there’s a tradition at St May’s Church in Warwick of displaying knitted poppies, and have seen something similar in Nuneaton, however, it seems to have caught on in many towns.

It's no accident that I’m releasing the second Time Doctors boxset, Recovery, on 11/11/25. Throughout the series, great importance is set on multiples of 11 – a power number. This boxset features books 4-6, and the tension and adventure really ramp up as our intrepid team meet dragons, angry dwarves and monsters in their D&D missions, while contending with conspiracies, threatening adversaries and a traitor in their midst.  

Bonfire Night

I was pretty convinced I’d done at least one post about this quaint British custom, originally held on 5th November to celebrate the failure of Guy Fawkes and his cronies to blow up the houses of lords in 1605. These Catholic plotters had intended to assassinate Protestant King James I and his parliament. But several searches on different keywords suggested not.

Early childhood memories of this included being allowed to hold a sparkler and make patterns which magically stayed in the air for split-seconds after you’d moved the fizzling wand. Even though we lived above a newsagent with a tiny backyard, we’d always have a small bonfire (handy for burning all the excess cardboard in the storeroom), and Mum would always finish off the baked spuds in the fire after cooking in the oven first. There’d always be sausages and my personal favourite, baked onions, which always caramelised into yummy sweetness. And topped off with toffee apples - yum!

When the flames reached the effigy of Guy Fawkes, made from old clothes stuffed with crumpled up newspaper, we would chant the rhyme:
      Remember, remember!
      The fifth of November,
      The Gunpowder treason and plot;
      I know of no reason
      Why the Gunpowder treason
      Should ever be forgot!
There’s way more than that, but most people stop there.

As Dad lit each firework, we’d have to stand well back – maybe as much as six feet (it was a small yard), but nothing like as far as the safety-conscious public displays these days. There was always at least one Catherine Wheel, a bunch of rockets in weighted bottles and my favourite, the Roman Candle with it’s gentle display of shooting stars. I was never as keen on the loud, bangy-crashy ones.

Fast forward 30 years to when our kids were old enough to hold sparklers, that was pretty much all we’d buy. It was all about the public displays – for several years we’d spend the day at West Midlands Safari Park – always the last day of the season. We'd spend a while on the fairground rides while they packed all the animals away and then the display would begin - it was always awesome.
For a few years, we walked to a display at the local rugby club, which meant I could quaff a pint of lager while we watched. When the club burnt down (nothing to do with fireworks) and lovely hubby was working out of the country, I plucked up the courage to buy sparklers for the kids and set up a few Catherine Wheels, Roman Candles and rockets. Finally, I got to light the blue touch paper and retire!

Little did I know back then quite how involved I’d get in the Gunpowder Plot, as it became known at the time. My research for the second Time Doctors book Just in Time, features a Dungeons and Dragons campaign set in Warwick Castle. The main character an intrepid female ghost hunter and her team’s quest is to uncover which of the many ghosts haunting the castle was causing untold mayhem. Along the way, the feisty medium taps into a little known Gunpowder Plot backup scheme involving nearby Coombe Abbey and James' daughter Elizabeth.
You can read more in the recently released boxset, Discovery – currently less than 50% of the individual books – scarily good value at only £4.99.