Please welcome Brook Allen to my blog. Hello Brook. Please come and sit down for a chat this morning.

Please introduce yourself to those reading this blog post. It’s such a pleasure to be here, Mary! I write historical fiction and my goal with a novel is to immerse the reader within the period and create believable characters. I still have a day-job (sigh), but I hope to retire soon and devote myself to full-time WRITING! I love traveling, reading, and researching my next project, and snuggling with my black Labrador, Jak.

How difficult was it writing your first book? It took fifteen years to write the Antonius Trilogy. First off, I didn’t know what I was doing. Second, during that time, my aging parents needed caregiving, so Antonius took a backburner to everything. They were so supportive, and my dad read many of my drafts for Son of Rome. However, they passed on before I was ever able to publish the complete Trilogy.

Have you ever wanted to give up and what stopped you? Not getting traditionally pubbed has certainly given me pause, and lately, it seems that marketing a new book has become so much more difficult and frustrating. However, I believe in my work and I’m a stubborn old woman who refuses to give in.

Who is the most supportive of you and your dream to be a writer? Naturally, my husband has been SO supportive and even helps me problem-solve when I have plot-holes. However, NYT bestselling novelist Margaret George has become a very dear friend and has cheered me on every step of the way. She sees the positives in self-publishing when so many traditionally published authors do not. And more importantly, she doesn’t consider my work “less” than her own just because I am self-published. We have such a great relationship. I treasure her.

What is the best advice given to you (book or otherwise), and by whom? A scholarly man once told me, “Knowledge is never wasted.”. I’ve really taken that to heart with my researching process. I start researching six months ahead of starting to write, letting ideas and possibilities tumble through my mind. Then, once I begin writing, I’m STILL researching as I go. I find myself able to include jewels of information that pops up in certain scenes that I’d never considered adding. Knowing your stuff about the subject-matter associated with a project is integral to its success.

What is your target audience and what aspect of your writing do you feel targets that audience? I write for adult audiences who want to know something more about a historical character, or who might be fascinated by my book’s cover or back-cover blurb.

What are you working on now? Can we get a peek, an excerpt? I’ve just completed a new work: WEST OF SANTILLANE, the untold story of Julia Hancock. Julia married William Clark of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Most of the story takes place after the men return from the Pacific, and most people aren’t aware of what took place once they came home. Honestly, there was just as much drama going on as when they were traveling west. What’s more—Julia was in the middle of much of that drama. It was fascinating, getting to sort through letters and documents of Lewis & Clark—getting to handle them. There was a glut of fine information, and my heartfelt prayer is that I did the project justice. So far, it’s gotten rave reviews.

Any last words before we wrap things up? Go pick up WEST OF SANTILLANE! It will have its first promo during the week of May 13^th, and the Kindle version will only be .99. It’s Julia’s story of adventure, forgiveness, and self-discovery.

       WEST OF SANTILLANE PRESS KIT

ISBN: 9781732958579

***For bulk retail shipments of books/print on demand: Ingram-Spark:

https://www.ingramspark.com/

CONTACT INFO:

            Brook Allen, Historical Fiction Author

            133 Piper Glen

            Blue Ridge, Virginia 24064

            (540)520-3479

            1brook.allen@gmail.com

                                                   CONNECT WITH BROOK

EMAIL: 1brook.allen@gmail.com

WEBSITE: https://www.brookallenauthor.com/

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/1BrookAllen

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/Historical.FictionWriter/photos/a.1921073788134240/274856848538 4762/

GOODREADS: https://www.goodreads.com/author/dashboard?ref=nav_profile_authordash

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/brookallen54/

                                                            Brook Allen Bio

Author Brook Allen has a passion for history. Her newest project, West of Santillane spotlights history from a little closer to home. It’s the story of Julia Hancock, who married famed explorer, William Clark. Each character of this thrilling, adventurous period was researched throughout southwest Virginia and into Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, Idaho, and North Dakota. It launches in March of 2024.

Brook belongs to the Historical Novel Society and attends conferences as often as possible to study craft and meet fellow authors. In 2019, her novel Antonius: Son of Rome won the Coffee Pot Book Club Book of the Year Award. In 2020, it was honored with a silver medal in the international Reader’s Favorite Book Reviewers Book Awards and then won First Place in the prestigious Chaucer Division in the Chanticleer International Book Awards, 2020.

Though she graduated from Asbury University with a B.A. in Music Education, Brook has always loved writing. She completed a Masters program at Hollins University with an emphasis in Ancient Roman studies, which helped prepare her for authoring her Antonius Trilogy. Brook teaches full-time as a Music Educator and works in a rural public-school district near Roanoke, Virginia. Her personal interests include travel, cycling, hiking in the woods, reading, and spending downtime with her husband and big, black dog, Jak. She lives in the heart of southwest Virginia in the scenic Blue Ridge Mountains.

                                    West of Santillane Back Cover Blurb

Desperate to escape a mundane future as a Virginia planter’s wife, Julia Hancock seizes her chance for adventure when she wins the heart of American hero William Clark. Though her husband is the famed explorer, Julia embarks on her own thrilling and perilous journey of self-discovery.

With her gaze ever westward, Julia possesses a hunger for knowledge and a passion for helping others. She falls in love with Will’s strength and generous manner, but, like her parents, he is a slave owner, and Julia harbors strong opinions against slavery. Still, her love for Will wins out, though he remains unaware of her beliefs.

Julia finds St. Louis to be a rough town with few of the luxuries to which she is accustomed, harboring scandalous politicians and miscreants of all types. As her husband and his best friend, Meriwether Lewis, work to establish an American government and plan to publish their highly anticipated memoirs, Julia struggles to assume the roles of both wife and mother. She is also drawn into the plight of an Indian family desperate to return to their own lands and becomes an advocate for Will’s enslaved.

When political rivals cause trouble, Julia’s clandestine aid to the Indians and enslaved of St. Louis draws unwanted attention, placing her at odds with her husband. Danger cloaks itself in far too many ways, leading her to embrace the courage to save herself and others through a challenge of forgiveness that will either restore the love she shares with Will or end it forever.

                                                Where to buy the book

                          *Print copies are now on sale for $19.99.

Amazon.com

amzn.to/48KZn3N

Book No Further (Roanoke Market)

Botetourt County Historical Society & Museum

***For bulk shipments of books/print on demand: Ingram-Spark:

https://www.ingramspark.com/