G is for...

Good King Wenceslas. 
What do we know about him apart from the fact that he went for a tromp in the snow on Boxing Day?

By Good_King_Wenceslas_10a.gif: Brothers Dalziel
derivative work: Victuallers (Good_King_Wenceslas_10a.gif) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The song was composed by a Victorian, the Rev. John Mason Neale in 1853. But the Good King Wenceslas was actually born centuries earlier. He was the Duke of Bohemia in the years 921-935, born and raised a Christian but with a Pagan mother who he exiled after she led a revolt in which his Christian Grandmother was murdered. The revolt was unsuccessful and he remained a Christian for the rest of his life. He was murdered by his brother on his way to Mass on morning.
He is better known for his alleged practise of giving alms to the poor and needy. It is also said that every Christmas day he would visit each of the servants and soldiers in his castle and press a gold coin into his or her hand.

And it is from this reputation rather than the battle between Christian and Pagan or his bloody end that the ‘Good’ King (who was really a Duke) is most well known. 

Kindness to the poor and needy, not just at Christmas, but all year round. Not a bad legacy to leave.

F is for

friends and fandom. (or a post where I shamelessly name drop people more talented, popular, and famous than I am)

Because without either of those things I wouldn’t be writing this blog post now.

I never intended to read fan fiction. I was only looking for artwork and fan vids. Honestly.  But my tag line on my fan blog says it all,'Never reading fanfic...maybe just one...one more won't hurt...Damn!'.  So, I was reading fan fiction but I had no plans to actually write any. Nope. None. WHATSOEVER. Forget the fact that I’d started several novels twenty years previously that I’d never finished, I had no intention of writing fan fiction. Hah!

So, online friends, fandom, and the birth of Lillian Francis are forever linked for me.

It was a fandom friend and erotic romance author, Christine D’Abo, who finally convinced me to write something original and send it off to a publisher. I’d been focusing on AUs for most of my fan fiction writing, so it wasn’t a huge jump. Yes, I’ll admit there are seeds of my fandom in that story if you care to look for them, it's not so easy to stray from what you've been writing that first time and trust yourself.

My online bestie, Katherine Halle, came with me on that journey from fandom to published author and has been my beta reader and No 1 cheerleader for the entire time.  She also came with me to my first UK Meet. Brighton, where I met Jo Myles for the first time despite having been emailing for a while, because, yep, you guessed it, we were in the same fandom. And I connected with Sue Brown on the Fan fiction buffet table.

Having been to one I knew I could do the next Meet (Bristol 2014) on my own (because someone had selfishly naffed off back across the pond *side eyes KH*). I’d made online contact with enough authors that I felt comfortable(ish—for a socially awkward introvert) introducing myself to people I only knew as a name on the screen.  And this year, at Bristol again, I added even more names to that list of people.

I know there has been controversy surrounding our genre several times this year but I can honestly say that I have encountered nothing but friendliness and a willingness to help and I always try to play that forward.

Here’s a few people that have made my time as an author an enjoyable experience, with help, beta reader, idea flinging, even cover art, all freely given. For all those things, and just being around to share the joy and pain of writing, or for making me smile every time I open my feed.

Jay Northcote

RJ Scott

Meredith Russell

Elin Gregory

Clare London

Liam Livings

Garrett Leigh

And two of my staunchest readers/supporters: jules0623 and idamus.

Thank you all.

E is for

By Dinner Series
[CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)],
via Wikimedia Commons

Eggnog

Apparently a 'marmite' drink, in that you either love it or hate it.

From what I can find in my research most people agree that Eggnog can trace its roots back to a concoction called possett, a drink of hot milk curdled with ale. Over time eggs were added to the mix bringing possett closer to the drink we commonly know as eggnog. The ale was removed and replaced with rum.
Nowadays most recipes seem to call for a dark rum or bourbon, but I'm guessing whatever dark spirit you have in the cupboard would be fine. The main divide seems to revolve around whether you should cook the egg.
The name seems to derive from the word 'noggin' which referred to a small wooden mug.

Regardless of the history I think I shall attempt to make some eggnog this year. Perhaps I shall try out many recipes. Or maybe I'll just take my Kraken neat ;)



and Every Reader Counts

So to all the readers and reviewers who have taken the time and spent their hard earned cash reading my stories this year, I thank you.

D is for

Dick Dongle.
It’s the name Kris Kringle goes by when he’s making one of his ‘specialist’ movies.
Hey, don’t judge, the guy needs to have something to do the other 11 months of the year.

and Deadpool.



The movie poster is here!
Roll on February.

C is for

well, that would be Christmas.

and Coming Soon.

I know I only blogged about New Lease of Life a couple of days ago but I don't get to say those words all that often. With my writing speed I'm lucky if I can use them twice a year. So, for those who may have missed it, coming soon, on Christmas Day no less (which fits nicely with the C theme) my new novel 'New Lease of Life'.

Cover art by Paul Richmond.

New Lease of Life

Phillip used to laugh a lot, back when his friends called him Pip. However the good deed that left him hospitalized not only marred his body, it stripped him of his good humor too. Ever since, he has pushed his friends away and shut out the world. Donating his vintage clothing to a charity shop should have been the final act in a year-long campaign to sever the links with the man Pip used to be, but the stranger on his doorstep awakens feelings in Pip that he hasn’t experienced since the incident that left him angry at the world and reliant on the cold metal of the hideous hospital-issue crutch.

Colby forces his way into Pip’s life, picking at the scab of his past. Colby isn’t interested in Pip’s money or his expensive address. He has only one goal: to make Pip smile again. With every moment in Pip’s presence, Colby chips away at the walls Pip has built around himself. Pip knows it’s impossible to fight his attraction with Colby’s sunny disposition casting light into the darkness in his soul.

And if all those C's weren't enough here's the 'Captain America: Civil War' trailer

B is for...

baubles.

By David J from Alingsås, Sweden (Xmas colorsUploaded by clusternote)
 [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

And ‘bloody hell, what the f*--heck am I doing?’. 

Why the shocked question?

Because it's December and I've got too much to do. I'm making a list, and checking it twice, but it doesn't get any shorter.

Finish first draft of Slopy Bottom Book 1 - Resonance's Rick and Mal in their follow-up story. Including those pesky sex scenes.

Write blog posts for release of New Lease of Life, including something clever and witty to appear on the Dreamspinner blog.

Write and prep 25 (that's 23 now) blog posts for this Christmas alphabet. (Watch me fail spectacularly at this one).Whose idea was this? 

Read as many Christmas books as I can fit in. (I’m not kidding myself that I’ll finish them all since I keep adding to the list.)
Rec my favourite November reads because I failed at doing that regularly last month.

Attend to RL stuff, like writing cards, buying presents, putting up decorations, attending Christmas functions, and generally having a spiffingly good time. Get a massage to try and get rid of this pain in my neck/shoulder/arm--my good arm, of course, not the dodgy one where I'm now more or less used to being in pain. 

A is for...

anticipation.

Christmas is all about the build up. As a kid it was anticipation about what you would find under the tree on Christmas morning. As a young adult it was all about the parties. As a new parent it became anticipation on first reactions: the tree, trip to see Santa, all those brightly wrapped presents.

Nowadays it's the anticipation of having all my family in the same room at the same time and things that I deny myself the rest of the year.

Mince Pies. Yes, they've been in the shops since September but I won't buy (or eat) one until 1st December. That's today. Yay!

Christmas reads. Authors have been pimping their Christmas stories for weeks if not months now whipping me into a reading frenzy of anticipation. I've been eagerly waiting for Winter Wonderland by Heidi Cullinan for months. That is the first book in my huge TBR pile of Christmas themed stories. I'll let you know about the others as I decide what comes next like peeling back the door on an advent calendar.

I guess I should mention that I have my own Christmas story. It's several years old now but that shouldn't lessen its appeal to those who are only recently discovering my existence. And I think its my favourite title out of all my books.
Here's a link to the main page for When Love Flue In which includes buy links and reviews.
Not convinced you should click the link?
Sinfully Sexy Books proclaimed it "A true Christmas fairy tale." and said "You have to read this one for Christmas. It will genuinely warm your heart."

What do you look forward to about Christmas?