http://www.margaret-frazer.com Award-winning Author of the Sister Frevisse Mysteries and the Joliffe Player Mysteries This is the cover for the Czech edition of the Mammoth Book of Locked-Room Mysteries and Impossible Crimes, which includes a translation of my short story "The Traveler's Tale". Or, in Czech, "Kocar do pekel" (which Google Translate intriguingly renders as "Coach to Hell"). http://www.margaretfrazer.com/archive/archive2010-07.html#20100729 A Kindle edition of "Neither Pity, Love, Nor Fear" -- my short story which won the Herodotus Award -- has been published. Even if you don't own a Kindle, that means that the story is now available for the whole suite of Kindle Reading Apps: iPad, Android, Windows PC, Mac, or Blackberry. I have to admit I give a hoot of laughter to see a Victorian painting on the cover, but I really like the strong impact it has. http://www.margaretfrazer.com/archive/archive2010-07.html#20100727 It's come to my attention that the audio book for The Sempter's Tale is now available from Audible.com for $25. (And there's currently a promotional price of $19.) This is not only cheaper than the CD version of the same, but also makes the audio book easily available to U.S. purchasers for the first time. Here's a sample... http://www.margaretfrazer.com/archive/archive2010-07.html#20100722 Ulverscroft U.K. has released a hardcover, large print edition of the Edgar-nominated The Prioress' Tale with an absolutely breathtaking cover. It has been added to the Alternative Covers Gallery. http://www.margaretfrazer.com/books/alternative/large07-prioress.jpg http://www.margaretfrazer.com/archive/archive2010-07.html#20100715 Some few years ago I was contacted by a young woman named Faria Sookdeo. She was working as a student for Dr. James Como, who wanted to talk with me and had set her the task of finding me. Since those first conversations, I have enjoyed Dr. Como's scholarly work immensely and become good friends with Faria. Later, when Ms. Sookdeo decided to do her master's thesis on the idea that the Dame Frevisse novels form a multi-volumed novel with a single, over-arching story, I was happy to give her all the help I could. She has now received her M.A. in English, and I'm happy to present her thesis here for everyone to read. I confess that I am SO proud. http://www.margaretfrazer.com/archive/archive2010-07.html#20100708 To the Saxons this was Hey-monath or Maed-monath, named for the meadows being at their fullest flowering. http://www.margaretfrazer.com/archive/archive2010-07.html#20100701 A rather pleasant review of The Maiden's Tale was recently posted at Red Roses for Authors. I mention this here becuse they're specifically reviewing the hardcover Robert Hale edition of the book, which was only released in the U.S. in paperback. If you're interested in grabbing a hardcover copy, they're available from both Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk. http://www.margaretfrazer.com/index.html#20100610 This is the Summer month, with trees at their fullest and the flowers most fair. On the land, where most of medieval England's population's concerns were centered, the summer work began to intensify, with sheep-shearing at the beginning of the month, followed by one of the quarter days of the year when rents came due, after which there was an increase in the work days that lords received by right from their landholders. http://www.margaretfrazer.com/index.html#20100603 I recently did an e-mail interview with Lenny Picker for an article he was writing for Publisher's Weekly. The full article -- "Mysteries of History" -- is available online now, but quite a bit of our discussion quite naturally didn't make the cut. I thought you might be interested in my at-length comments, which appear below. http://www.margaretfrazer.com/index.html#20100513 For medieval folk this month began with the summer-welcoming celebrations of May Day. There would be bonfires on high places, with Winter meant to die in the flames. All the village hearthfires were put out so they could be re-lighted from the communal "need-fire", and on May morning young people rose especially early (or had been out in the woods all night) to welcome Summer with the gathering of green-leaved branches and flowers to carry home for hanging over doorways and decorating houses. Then there were garlanded processions through the streets, and carol-singing with dancing, and maypoles, and often a King and a Queen of the May. The specifics of the celebrations were different from place to place but merriment was everywhere. http://www.margaretfrazer.com/index.html#20100506 In crafting my stories, I try to shape the plots and characters to the realities of life in England in the 1400s, rather than casually (one may even say, of some authors, carelessly) re-shaping medieval times and minds to suit my whim. Toward the goal of understanding medieval life as deeply as may be, I started -- a long while ago, when my research and I were much younger -- putting together a guide, from many sources, to what I suppose can be called A Medieval Year in England. http://www.margaretfrazer.com/index.html#20100429 This morning as I was browsing through the Edward R. Hamilton Bookseller catalog I was once again amused to discover that my books have been listed not under Mysteries, but Fiction. Apparently someone has taken to heart the comment / criticism I sometimes receive that my books are heavier on history than on mystery, but I'm actually rather flattered. http://www.margaretfrazer.com/index.html#20100422 At a question-and-answer session someone once asked me why I have so much weather in my books. The question took me aback for a moment, since it had never occurred to me not to have weather in my books. For one thing, I like weather, which is just as well because I live in a part of the world where there are four radical seasons, and within each season conditions can vary widely from day to day, so I'd be in trouble if I didn't like weather. There's so much of it here. As for using it in my stories, for me weather is part of each day's texture, and because I like stories that have texture, I weave weather deeply into mine, hoping to give them richer texture and the deeper-set sense of time and place that comes with that... http://www.margaretfrazer.com/index.html#20100415 I've received a copy of the cover for A Play of Piety, the sixth book in the Joliffe series due out in December 2010. For those of you who just can't wait, we'll be releasing some sample chapters here on the website in the near future. http://www.margaretfrazer.com/index.html#20100413 The Master Chronology, showing the internal chronology of the Frevisse and Joliffe novels, has been updated. Special thanks to reader Pat Fadio, who pointed out that The Boy's Tale had been left off the original list. Problem solved. Thanks, Pat! http://www.margaretfrazer.com/index.html#20091207 A Play of Treachery has arrived!!! The fifth in the series has Joliffe away, at Bishop Beaufort's behest, to France and into the (not-yet-Hundred Years) War there. http://www.margaretfrazer.com/index.html#20091204 The hardcover edition of The Prioress Tale from British publisher Robert Hale is due out on August 30th, and the matching hardcover edition of The Maiden's Tale is scheduled for December 31st. These books have never been published in hardcover until now, so if you are looking to upgrade your aging paperback editions, here's your chance! http://www.margaretfrazer.com/index.html#20090821 Not very, is the answer that first springs to mind. The disparities of perception, behavior, and language between medieval times and now seem to make it impossible for a fiction author to be true to the time and yet accessible to modern readers. Yet why set a story in another time if not to explore and experience the otherness of that time? ... http://www.margaretfrazer.com/index.html#20090616 I'll be attending the Historical Novel Society Conference in Schaumberg, Illinois this weekend! http://www.margaretfrazer.com/index.html#20090611 I had an email from a reader wanting to know where the Joliffe books fall in the sequence of Frevisse's books. I've answered directly, but thought the list might be of interest to other readers wanting to read them all in sequence. Here's the master chronology for both series... http://www.margaretfrazer.com/index.html#20090423