Sultana: free for 3 days on Kindle

Sultana: A Novel of Moorish Spain (Sultana: Book 1) is free on Kindle April 17 - 19. Get caught up on the series before the fourth book, Sultana: The Bride Price, makes its debut in May. http://authl.it/16r.

In thirteenth-century Moorish Spain, the realm of Granada is in crisis. The union of Fatima, granddaughter of the Sultan of Granada, with the Sultan’s nephew Faraj has fractured the nation. A bitter civil war escalates and endangers both Fatima and Faraj’s lives.

All her life, Fatima has sheltered in lavish palaces where danger has never intruded, until now. A precocious child and the unwitting pawn of her family, she soon learns how her marriage may determine her future and the fate of Granada. Her husband Faraj has his own qualms about their union. At a young age, he witnessed the deaths of his parents and discovered how affluence and power offers little protection against indomitable enemies. Guilt and fears plague him. Determined to carve his own destiny, Faraj struggles to regain his lost inheritance and avenge his murdered family.

Throughout the rugged frontiers of southern Spain, the burgeoning Christian kingdoms in the north and the desert states of North Africa, Fatima and Faraj survive ruthless murderers and intrigues. They unite against common enemies bent on destroying the last Moorish dynasty. While Fatima and Faraj establish a powerful bond, the atmosphere of deceit creates opportunities for mistrust and tests their love.

Snippet:

Aisha smiled again, but it seemed sad. “Hush now, child, listen well. Understanding shall come. Even when you must do what others command, never forget the power of your own reasoning. One day, your husband may rule your body, he may even come to rule your heart, but your mind is and always must be your own, where none but you may rule. Promise me that you shall never forget these words.”

Fatima swayed slightly. Her throat hurt, but she whispered, “I promise.”

She returned Aisha’s intent stare, for the first time, unafraid. Aisha’s eyes glistened like gems in the lamplight.

“This is the only measure of advice I can give you, Fatima. You must learn the ways of men, as I have. Do not trust in men alone. Love, be dutiful and respectful, but trust yourself and your instincts first. They shall always guide you rightly.”

Meet My Main Character

Earlier this spring, author Debra Brown started this series of posts from writers of historical fiction, "Meet My Main Character" and my good friend and fellow author Anita Davison tagged me. So, it's time to introduce readers to the title character of Sultana: The Bride Price.

What is the name of your character? Is she fictional or a historic person?

Her full name is Sultana Jazirah bint Ismail of the Nasrid Dynasty. She is based on a historic personage, the wife and paternal cousin of Sultan Muhammad V. Although historians know several details of her life, one of the most important facts went missing over the centuries; her real name.  

When and where is the story set?

The story is set in Moorish Spain within Granada's Alhambra palace mostly, during a ten-year period of 1357 to 1367, which was a turbulent time during Muhammad V's reign.

What should we know about Jazirah?

She lives a remarkable life in adverse times. When she was six, her father was imprisoned by his brother for treason, so Jazirah did not enjoy the pampered existence one might expect for a princess. When she is sixteen, she receives a marriage proposal from Muhammad V, an opportunity to seal the breach in the family caused by her father's imprisonment. She eventually accepts, but even after the marriage, peace does not follow. While Jazirah and Muhammad share a deep attraction and understanding of each other's natures, neither has reason to trust or rely upon the other. 

What is the main conflict? What messes up her life?

How does a woman who has no reason to trust her new husband and no hope of a bright future with him learn to embrace new possibilities? Jazirah has lived with the consequences of betrayal all of her life, so she struggles with an inability to understand the intentions and motives of almost everyone around her. While she is perceptive, she's also judgmental and guided by the bitter past. Jazirah's difficulty in reconciling past and present dims her future prospects.

What is the personal goal of the character?

To find her own path toward forgiveness and faith in her marriage, to let go of old hurts and to secure the future for her and Muhammad's children.

When can we expect Sultana: The Bride Price to be published?

Late May. I'm making some changes based on feedback from members of the NYC chapter of the Historical Novel Society.

I'm passing this on to three writers of historical fiction (in the hopes they haven't already been tapped for a Meet My Main Character post)

Mirella Patzer, Heather Domin and Jessica Knauss.





   

Guest Post: Exercise and Be Fit for any Writing Problem

By Nikolas Baron

I once knew a woman who was famous in her local gym. This lady was reminiscent of a female Ironman.  She is whom you want to know when you need to open a stubborn pickle jar.  She works out four times a week.  So I asked her one-day for advice on my abs.  In reality, I was just making conversation.  I anticipated that she would tell me to do a couple hundred crunches and to stop eating so much Taco Bell.

I will never forget her reply.  She said, and I quote:  “Do you want to work on your obliques, or your abdominus muscles? “  Apparently, there are six different muscles that make up the stomach region.  Each muscle has a specific function.  In order to target the desired region, I would need to alter my exercise regimen to concentrate my efforts.  Well, in just you were wondering, it was my rectus abdominus that I wanted to tone.   However, to get the chiseled look that I was hoping for, it would take a daily routine of consistent effort.

Writing is much the same.  It takes a concentrated, regular effort.  In the course of my duties at Grammarly, I have been able to talk to many successful writers.  They have shared some writing exercises that have helped them to overcome writing problem areas.  Here are a few exercises that will have you metaphorically opening pickle jars with the best of them.

Problem 1: Flabby Phrases

Target Exercises:  On the website of The Purdue Online Writing Lab, three activities are featured that are designed to help you to identify and eliminate wordiness from writing.   The previous sentence is wordy, right?  After practicing with the activities, I am more aware of unnecessary and redundant information.  A better sentence:  The Purdue Online Writing Lab features three activities designed to help you eliminate wordiness.  Try your hand: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/exercises/6/9/

Problem 2: Zits and Imperfections

Target Exercises:  Spelling and grammar errors do more than detract from a document.  These small errors can cost time and money.  If you send a manuscript full of errors to a publisher, it will decrease its chances of being accepted.   If you become aware of errors that you regularly make, you can seek to avoid these negative habits.  Use this free proofreading service.   Cut and paste a paragraph or two into the box.  The free version provides a list of probable errors that have been detected in your document.  For example, it may suggest that a subject and verb agreement error exists.   Check each sentence in the paragraph until you find the problem.  As after a workout, you can reward yourself to a banana.  I am sure potassium is good for writers, too.                                                 

                                     

Problem 3: Flat characters

Target Exercise:  The Writer’s Craft offers seventeen ways to get in touch with your characters.  They cheated a bit, because the first four are really the same: Read, read, read, and reread books.  When you choose a few books to focus on for this activity, include a couple that you did not like or did not finish.  By doing character sketches, you will notice what characteristics attract and repel you. Once you have researched the characters in several published novels, you will have a better idea of what types of characters maintain and repel the interest of the reader.  Jodi Cushing posted a list of one hundred questions.  After 100 questions, you will probably know your character better than you know your partner!

If you are willing to do the work, you can tone your writing muscles.  These are only a few of the most common problems that writers face.   Do not suffer through rejections without investigating whether a little exercise might not help you.   Consult with a developmental editor and ask them to make suggestions for improvement.   Equipped with the knowledge of your flaws, you can target each one with the appropriate exercises.  You won’t even need to buy a gym membership!

Bio: Nikolas discovered his love for the written word in Elementary School, where he started spending his afternoons sprawled across the living room floor devouring one Marc Brown childrens’ novel after the other and writing short stories about daring pirate adventures. After acquiring some experience in various marketing, business development, and hiring roles at internet startups in a few different countries, he decided to re-unite his professional life with his childhood passions by joining Grammarly’s marketing team in San Francisco. He has the pleasure of being tasked with talking to writers, bloggers, teachers, and others about how they use Grammarly’s online proofreading application to improve their writing. His free time is spent biking, travelling, and reading.

A guest post from Grammarly.

All images courtesy of Fotolia

Flash sale - Sultana series, each book at $0.99, only on Feb. 1

Sultana: The Bride Price, book four of the Moorish Spain series, makes its debut in spring 2014. Just for one day, get caught up on the first three ebooks in the series, each 99 cents,only on February 1. That's right, all three books in the series including; last summer's release, Sultana: Two Sisters, are on sale today only at my website and all the retailers below

Sultana, book one

Amazon

iBookStore
Barnes and Noble's Nook
Kobo
Smashwords

Sultana's Legacy, book two

Amazon
iBookStore
Barnes and Noble's Nook
Kobo
Smashwords

Sultana: Two Sisters, book three

Amazon
iBookStore
Barnes and Noble's Nook
Kobo
Smashwords

Final cover art - Sultana: The Bride Price

It's finally here; the cover artwork for the next in my Moorish Spain series, entitled Sultana: The Bride Price, which will be available in the spring.

Sultana: The Bride Price is the story of Sultan Muhammad V of the Nasrid Dynasty, the only son of Yusuf I and his Christian wife Butayna, as told in Sultana: Two Sisters. The novel follows the course of history in which Muhammad V married his paternal first cousin, a woman whose name was not recorded in any of the sources, whom I have called Jazirah. As the novel opens, Jazirah is a headstrong and determined fourteen year-old; I expect any descendant of Fatima, the heroine of the first two novels would have been little different from her stalwart ancestress. Needless to say, Jazirah and her new husband don't fare very well at the start; if you've read my previous work, you know this already because you also know I don't write about historical figures with rosy, happy lives. Returning for this novel are several of the characters from Two Sisters, most importantly, Butayna and Maryam, whose continued conflicts are resolved in a dramatic way that aligns with their history. Muhammad V also has his own drama to survive within and outside of the harem's walls of Alhambra.

As with my other historical fiction works, the credit for this cover goes to Lance Ganey, whom I have the joy of working with for four years now. The original, public-domain artwork I sent him was Ferdinand Max Bredt's In a courtyard, Tunis (1921). The central figure drew me because she's much as I envisioned a young and beautiful teen-aged Jazirah. Lance superimposed the figure over a beautiful background of Alhambra's Court of Lions, which Muhammad V ordered construction on beginning in the early 1360's.

The ebook and paperback versions of the newest novel will be available within a short span of each other; ebook always first on all sales channels, followed by the paperback assuming all goes well with Ingram Spark. Four books down  and two more to go before I wrap up this series that has meant so much to me. I hope readers will be as excited as I am when Sultana: The Bride Price makes its debut.     

$25 Amazon gift card: About Sultana-Two Sisters

UPDATE: THIS PRIZE HAS BEEN CLAIMED, CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNER!

Time for the final giveaway of a $25 #Amazon gift card by email to a lucky reader of Sultana: Two Sisters, the latest in my Moorish Spain series set within Granada's Alhambra. You must be able to answer the following 3 questions to win  -  the gift card can be used for anything you may purchase from Amazon. This giveaway is open internationally. 

Here are the rules:

• First person to provide the correct answers to all 3 questions in a comment on this blog post OR my Facebook page wins. 
• Leave your email address in the comments section to be considered in the drawing. 
• This contest doesn't require you to follow The Brooklyn Scribbler blog or Like my Facebook page (although I'd love it if you did!), but you must have read the book. 

Now, questions from Sultana: Two Sisters.

In Sultana: Two Sisters (2013), former friends face off in a deadly rivalry, each fighting for the love of one man and the right to place a son on the throne.

1. Where was the heroine Esperanza Peralta born?

A. In northern Spain, at Pamplona
B. In southern France, at Toulouse
C. In central Spain, at Talavera de la Reina

2. Esperanza and her friend Miriam each enter the Sultan's harem as slaves, but which of the women arrives there first?  

3. What is the relationship of the hero of this novel to the heroine Fatima from the first two novels in the series?   

Thank you for playing and good luck! All the best in the New Year! 

$25 Amazon gift card: About Sultana's Legacy

UPDATE: THIS PRIZE HAS BEEN CLAIMED, CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNER!

The fourth giveaway is here. One lucky person among the readers of Sultana's Legacy, the second in my Moorish Spain series set within Granada's Alhambra must be able to answer the following 3 questions to be considered in a drawing to win one $25 Amazon gift card -  the gift card can be used for anything you may purchase from Amazon. This giveaway is open internationally. 

Here are the rules:

• First person to provide the correct answers to all 3 questions in a comment on this blog post OR my Facebook page wins. 
• Leave your email address in the comments section to be considered in the drawing. 
• This contest doesn't require you to follow The Brooklyn Scribbler blog or Like my Facebook page (although I'd love it if you did!), but you must have read the book. 

Now, questions from Sultana's Legacy.

In Sultana's Legacy (2011), the heroine Fatima faces off against a powerful enemy and loses almost everyone she holds dear, as she tries to protect and preserve her family.

1. As the novel opens, what is the name of Fatima's sister who lives at Malaka with her? 

2. How does Fatima's father meet his end?

3. Fatima has her favorites among her son Ismail's children in Gharnatah - what are the names of those favored grandchildren? 

A. Leila and Yusuf
B. Muhammad and Asiya
C. Samir and Jamilah

Thank you for playing and good luck! Next and final chance to win a gift card will be on Friday, Jan. 3 , for readers of Sultana: Two Sisters. Happy New Year! 

$25 Amazon gift card giveaway: About Sultana

UPDATE: THIS PRIZE HAS BEEN CLAIMED, CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNER!

Time for the third giveaway, especially for readers of Sultana, the first in my Moorish Spain series set within Granada's Alhambra. As with the previous contests for On Falcon's Wings and The Burning Candle, I'm offering a $25 Amazon gift card by email to one reader who can correctly answer 3 random questions about the novel - the gift card can be used for anything you may purchase from Amazon. This giveaway is open internationally. 

Here are the rules:

• First person to provide the correct answers to all 3 questions in a comment on this blog post OR my Facebook page wins. 
• Leave your email address in the comments section to be considered in the drawing. 
• This contest doesn't require you to follow The Brooklyn Scribbler blog or Like my Facebook page (although I'd love it if you did!), but you must have read the book. 

Now, questions from Sultana.

In Sultana (2011), the heroine Fatima is a Moorish princess wed to her paternal cousin Faraj, a move which precipitates a civil war between Fatima's family and their former allies.

1. What is the Moorish name of the city where Fatima grew up?

2. Which of the following men is Fatima's father?

A. Muhammad I
B. Muhammad II
C. Muhammad III

3. What is the name of Fatima and Faraj's firstborn son?

Thanks for playing and good luck! Next chance to win will be on Friday, Dec. 27 , for readers of Sultana's Legacy. Merry Christmas! 

$25 Amazon gift card giveaway: About The Burning Candle

UPDATE: THIS PRIZE HAS BEEN CLAIMED, CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNER!

Ready for the second giveaway? For readers of The Burning Candle, I'm offering a $25 Amazon gift card by email to the first lucky reader who can answer 3 random questions about the novel - the gift card can be used for anything you may purchase from Amazon.This giveaway is open internationally. 

Here are the rules:

• First person to provide the correct answers to all 3 questions in a comment on this blog post OR my Facebook page wins. 
• Leave your email address in the comments section to be considered in the drawing. 
• This contest doesn't require you to follow The Brooklyn Scribbler blog or Like my Facebook page (although I'd love it if you did!), but you must have read the book. 

Now, questions from The Burning Candle.

In The Burning Candle (2012), the 12th-century heroine Isabel de Vermandois marries a man older than her father and does her duty, until forbidden love gives her the courage to choose her own destiny.

1. What are the full names of Isabel's mother and father? 

2. How many sons does Isabel have with her husband Robert de Beaumont?

A. Two, separated by three years
B. Three; twins followed by another boy  
C. Four; only three live because the villain stabbed the fourth son

3. In the novel, Isabel has one friend in England, Amieria - what is the name of Amieria's famous father?

Thanks for playing and good luck! Next chance to win will be on Friday, Dec. 20 , for readers of Sultana. Happy holidays!

The Private Alhambra: Fatima’s Perspective

For devout Muslims of the medieval period and our times, the Qur’an informed about daily rituals of cleanliness, associated with prayer rituals. “O ye who believe! When you intend to offer the prayer, wash your faces and your hands up to the elbows, wipe your heads, and wash your feet to the ankles.” Personal hygiene became such an important aspect of Moorish life that there were at least twenty-one public baths within Granada during the medieval period. The best preserved of these can still be seen today, from the eleventh-century Zirid (Berber) dynasty. Called El Banuelo, visitors can find it along the Carrera del Darro, a narrow street flanking the Darro River. Just follow the route of the 31 bus from Granada Centro to Albaicin; entrance is free from 10am to 2pm, Tuesday through Saturday.

El Banuelo has the typical layout of a Moorish bathhouse. The low-hanging entrance (mind your head) leads to four chambers; a changing room where visitors left their clothes, the cool room for general washing and massages, the warm room for cleansing and scrubbing, followed by the hot room, where bathers could soak. Bath attendants would have provided towels. Women could have had their bodily hair removed and their nails, hands and feet painted with henna, while men enjoyed a shave. Bathing hours included specific times based on gender. Visitors made gradual progress through each space, so the bath ritual might last hours.

In Sultana and Sultana’s Legacy, Fatima would not have resorted to using this or any other public bath, not even the one attached to the mosque her brother Muhammad III had ordered constructed. Instead, Fatima would have accessed the bathhouse at Alhambra. Sandwiched between the Court of Myrtle and the northeastern edge of the Court of Lions built in the reign of Fatima’s great grandson, Muhammad V, this space has been opened to the public starting December 2013  just for a month – click here for more details. Maximum capacity is 15 people. If you are lucky enough to have a visit to Alhambra during this time, admission to the Palacios Nazaries gets you into the royal baths, called Banos Arabes.

Fatima would have known it as the hammam begun in the time of her son, the fifth Nasrid sovereign Ismail I, a space also worked on by his son, Yusuf I. One of the poems of Yusuf’s minister Ibn al-Jayyab inscribed above the door welcomed Fatima and generations of her family:

“Enter in the name of God into the finest house, a place of purity, a room to be respected: this is the bath of the royal palace, on which great minds labored. Fire makes a pleasant heat here and pure water flows….”

An earlier version of the bathhouse must have existed before these rulers came to power at the beginning of the fourteenth century, but the current structure is all visitors can see. Entry came from two, second-story access points, from a vestibule just off the Court of Myrtles and a short hallway from the Court of Lions. The upper level also held the living quarter of the bath superintendent. The ceiling beams and panels show evidence of bright paint. There would have been a lantern fitted into the center of the ceiling. Anyone who leaned over the wooden balustrade would have seen a marble white fountain below on the first floor of the room. Four slender columns offered support. Stairs led down to the first floor.   

On the lower floor immediately beyond the pillars were two recessed alcoves situated across from each other. Two plaster-worked arches linked by a central column enclosed these alcoves. Assuming the hammam of Alhambra followed the general plan of most Moorish baths, this place might have allowed Fatima and her family to undress and get their towels, relax here or enjoy a massage. There was also a storeroom and a latrine behind the northernmost alcove. From the moment of their arrival, would-be bathers wore wooden shoes to protect their feet from the heat and spills in the bath.

Next came the narrow cool room, known to Fatima as al-bayt al-barid, reached via a short hallway running to the east. A small cold-water basin remains here on the eastern wall framed by a painted horseshoe arch.

The central room was al-bayt al-wastani in Fatima’s time, a heated room with three vaulted spaces. Warmth rose from beneath the tiles. The recessed channel in the middle of the floor allowed for the run-off from bathers to drain away, while one marble step on either side supported the columns in the room. Bathers would have soaped and washed here, with pails or buckets of water thrown over them to rinse off.

Lastly, they would have arrived at the hot room, al-bayt al-sakhun. It had two marble tanks, one on the east and the other to the south, where bathers could immerse themselves.

How did the Moors of Alhambra maintain this bath? On the lower level, accessed through the rooms the Catholic Monarchs added and an enclosed garden below, you will find redbrick walls along a warren of tunnels. They provided storage space for the wood required to heat the furnaces. These hallways also allowed those who worked behind the scenes to keep the baths heated and cleaned from disturbing the solitude of the bathers. 

The ceiling of each of the bathing rooms features skylights or madwas, which provided ventilation. Each had a green or white glaze and red glass covered them, some shaped like eight pointed stars and others like tears. In the chambers lit by the skylights, Fatima and her family would have found luxury and comfort, but centuries of damage and neglect led to the closing of the royal bath. Only restoration work has allowed the space to open to the public again.

$25 Amazon gift card giveaway: About On Falcon's Wings

UPDATE: THIS PRIZE HAS BEEN CLAIMED, CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNER!

I've been looking for a way to thank some of the readers who've been kind enough to buy my work and share their opinions. This holiday season, every  Friday through January 3, I'll offer one $25 Amazon gift card by email to one lucky reader who can successfully answer all 3 random questions about my novels - the gift card can be used for anything you may purchase from Amazon. This giveaway is open internationally. 

Here are the rules:

• First person to provide the correct answers to all 3 questions in a comment on this blog post OR my Facebook page wins. 
• Leave your email address in the comments section to be considered in the drawing. 
• This contest doesn't require you to follow The Brooklyn Scribbler blog or Like my Facebook page (although I'd love it if you did!), but you must have read the book. 

So I'll kick things off with 3 questions from On Falcon's Wings. 

In my 2010 debut novel, On Falcon's Wings, the heroine Avicia and the hero Edric of Newington are medieval lovers torn apart by events leading up the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

1. In which region of northern Europe did Avicia and Edric first met? 

A. England
B. Flanders
C. Normandy

2. What was the full name of Avicia's only friend after her arrival in Normandy?

3. What type of trial did Avicia have to undertake when the Normans discovered her affair with Edric?

Thanks for playing and good luck! Next chance to win will be on Friday, Dec. 13 , for readers of The Burning Candle. Enjoy the holidays!