US book Tour

[Kasthu]

Apparently, I missed this news the first time it was announced on her blog (http://sharonkaypenman.com/blog/?p=50), but I recently found out that SKP is going to be doing a book tour in the US this summer! According to her e-mail newsletter, the paperback edition of Devil's Brood is coming out at the end of July (August for UK), as well as reissues of the other books in the "Eleanor of Aquitaine" series.

What's most exciting about this is that SKP will be in MY neighborhood for a signing/talk! (actually, 30 minutes away, but come hell or high water, I'll be there).

OK, now I need to go and crawl out of the cave I've been living in...

[Tanzanite]

I'm so jealous! I would probably drive a couple of hours to go see her, but she's not coming anywhere close to me.

[Misfit]

We expect a full report back. I am sooooo jealous.

[zsigandr]

Me too! Please do share afterward,
Andrea

[diamondlil]

Another one afflicted by jealousy here! Wish I could meet SKP.

[sharon]

Hi, Kasthu,
I am so glad that you think you'll be able to attend my PA reading. The best part of going out on tour is that I get to meet people I've only known on-line. I wish the tour was coast-to-coast, but this one is confined to the East Coast and Midwest. As a former Californian, I am always eager for a visit to San Francisco, but no such luck this time. I am grateful to Ballantine for resurrecting the tour we had to cancel last October when I was unexpectedly hospitalized. They are doing a wonderful job, too, of promoting my Angevin trilogy; in addition to bringing Devil's Brood out in paperback on July 28th, they are re-issuing When Christ and His Saints Slept and Time and Chance. And because of their gentle nudging, I now have a presence in cyberspace. I even plunged into the uncharted waters of Facebook; well, actually, Ballantine pushed me off the diving board for that one, but I'm glad they did. Like blogging, I can see how Facebook can become addictive.
Anyway, I just wanted to say hi to everyone, and I'll be looking for you, Kasthu. When I get back from the tour, I'll drop by to let you know how it went, and to rave about a book I stayed up all night reading this week--Elizabeth Chadwick's The Falcons of Montabard. Lots more on that later.
Sharon

[Chatterbox]

Piffle; no New York dates??
Kasthu, we are counting on you.
(Well, and Sharon, we're also counting on your blog!)
Personally, I can't wait to read more about Berengaria. She gets short shrift in most of the Plantagenet-related fiction I've read. Since I haven't delved very deeply into the NF, I can't tell if that's because she is rather dull, or whether there isn't that much info available on her. If the former, one wonders how she got along with Eleanor!

[Misfit]

Hi Sharon, thanks for the update and still counting on Kasthu for a full report. I'm guessing Sharon is going to be the one author that will make Berengeria interesting. I haven't had much luck so far with others :)

[zsigandr]

If anyone can make Berengeria interesting it would be SKP! :)

[sharon]

Thanks, Misfit and all, for the vote of confidence. We know very little about Berengaria during her years as Richard's queen, so we have to draw conclusions based in part upon what we know about her during her many years of widowhood. It is frustrating to have so little material to work with, but then it can be liberating, too. Already Berengaria is starting to assert herself, reacting in ways I hadn't expected. So it will be fun to see how she develops. She has now arrived in Sicily and has been caught up in the Angevin whirlwind; it must have been overwhelming for this sheltered Spanish princess to find herself in the controlled chaos that always seemed to surround Richard. She apparently came from a loving, close-knit family, too; there is convincing evidence that her parents' political marriage evolved into a love match, and we know she was quite close with her younger sister Blanca, who would wed the Count of Blois. So life with the Angevins must have been a bit of a shock!
Sharon

[Susan]

What's most exciting about this is that SKP will be in MY neighborhood for a signing/talk! (actually, 30 minutes away, but come hell or high water, I'll be there).

I'm going to the signing/talk in PA also!

[boswellbaxter]

Wish you were going a little farther south!

I'm looking forward to seeing your perspective on Berengaria. She seems to have been short-changed by many authors because she isn't a "sexy" figure, especially when contrasted with Eleanor, but she does seem to have been a woman of intelligence and substance.

[Carine]

Another one afflicted by jealousy here! Wish I could meet SKP.

Same here !!

I'm now reading Falls the Shadow (enjoying it very much) and am looking forward to buying the Angevin trilogy at the end of the month.

[Chatterbox]

She seems to have been short-changed by many authors because she isn't a "sexy" figure, especially when contrasted with Eleanor, but she does seem to have been a woman of intelligence and substance.

It's as if Berengaria becomes the 'loyal little wife' figure, in a way, the kind of woman that made people say centuries later that behind every successful man there is a woman.
And she doesn't seem to have sought power, romance or controversy in a way that makes her terrifically appealing as a fictional character. She was a loyal wife and like many noble widows, retreated to a religious life after his death, if I'm correct. So I suppose you'd have to kind of read between the lines, as her personality doesn't seem to shine through in her actions.

[EC2]

Very good luck on the tour Sharon, and Kasthu and Susan now have their orders to report back! :D
Re your tours. I have a bit of synchronicity. I've been sorting out some drawers and last night came across a big packet of photos inside which were two postcards from you when you were on tour back in the 90's. (shows how often I clear stuff out :o). One's from Jackson Hole Wyoming in July 1995 and the other's from 17 Mile Drive Californian in November 1997. How strange that they should turn up now!
Looking forward to Berengaria; she has been very neglected hasn't she. I think Chatterbox is right re the 'sexiness'. I'm finding the same with researching Henry I's 2nd queen Adeliza. Very interesting about Berengaria coming from a loving close-knit family. I wonder how children would have turned out if she and Richard had had any.

[Susan]

Very good luck on the tour Sharon, and Kasthu and Susan now have their orders to report back! :D

Will do!!! Kasthu, we should at least meet each other there.

[Susan]

What a great time I had last night (July 30, 2009) at Sharon Kay Penman’s book talk at the Chester County Books & Music Co. in West Chester, Pennsylvania. It’s about 75 miles (120 km) away from me, but was well worth the trip. I met an old e-friend who lives in Pennsylvania there. We had worked together when AOL had a royalty community way back when and hadn’t seen each other for a few years, so it was great to see her again.

Sharon opened her talk by introducing some of her e-friends. There were a few people there who post regularly on her blog and she did mention names of some people from this forum, but none of them were there. She mentioned me and gave me credit for the castles from Devil’s Brood which I originally posted here and are now on her website. When I spoke with her later, she said she recognized me immediately from my Facebook photo. Sharon also spoke about this forum to the group and said it was a wonderful place to discuss historical fiction.

Sharon read and discussed two selections from Devil’s Brood: Henry and Eleanor discussing Henry’s proposal that their marriage be annulled and that Eleanor become the Abbess of Fontrevault and Hal, Richard, and Geoffrey at a tavern discussing how this would affect them. She then went on to talk about historical accuracy in historical fiction. In this discussion, she used examples from the books of three of our members and gave a plug for their books: cw gortner, EC2, and michellemoran. There was a lively and interesting question and answer period and then a book signing. All in all, it was an interesting and worthwhile evening!


Next week Sharon will be in Ohio and Michigan. If you live within driving distance, I recommend that you go. Here's where she will be:

Tuesday, August 4, Dayton , OH
7:00 PM, talk and signing
Books & Co
The Greene
4453 Walnut Street
Dayton, Ohio 45440
937-429-6302

Wednesday, August 5, Ann Arbor, MI
7:00 PM, talk and signing
Nicola's Books
2513 Jackson Avenue
Ann Arbor, MI 48103
734-662-0600

[Misfit]

Thanks for updating us Susan. You know we are all very green with envy.

[EC2]

Many thanks Susan - so glad you had a great time. Sharon is lovely and I would love to meet her again - hope she gets to England at some point, although I met her some years ago at a talk in Leicester. Great too that she acknowledged your work on the castles in Devil's Brood.

[boswellbaxter]

Thanks for the report!

[robinbird79]

Is there a place to find out her future dates and places? I'm way down in Georgia and would love to meet her. :)

[Susan]

Is there a place to find out her future dates and places? I'm way down in Georgia and would love to meet her. :)

The dates I posted are the last dates on Sharon's tour. Her website would have updates on any future tours: http://www.sharonkaypenman.com/

[Susan]

Many thanks Susan - so glad you had a great time. Sharon is lovely and I would love to meet her again - hope she gets to England at some point, although I met her some years ago at a talk in Leicester. Great too that she acknowledged your work on the castles in Devil's Brood.

Sharon talked a lot about you and highly praised your books. She discussed how the two of you saw John Marshal, William's father, differently.

[Carine]

Thanks for sharing Susan ! Glad you had a great time !

[sharon]

Hi, everyone. I got home this weekend from the book tour, had a great time, as always. I was disappointed, though, that I didn't get to meet you, Kathu, or to see you again, Marguerite. Maybe next time. I'll post more about the tour once I've had a chance to unpack and catch my breath. It is so reassuring to meet other people who love to read as much as I do. Think how bleak our world would be without books.
Sharon