Book Clubs

Interested in featuring my book in your book club? Well, you've come to the right place!

I'd be happy to create some questions and other things for discussion, have interviews, or answer questions. Send me an email at ravinmaurice(at)gmail(dot)com with Book Clubs in the subject line and I will get back to you asap.

RESEARCH AND LINKORAMA:
            Here's a list of some of the things that I used for research, not just for Rebirth but for the whole series. I can't list them all, but I will periodically update the list and add to it.

Those who are curious about some background on the illegitimate children of royalty, Sex with Kings and Sex with the Queen by Eleanor Herman are two fantastic resources. It's a wealth of information not only on these children, but what it meant for the royal and all that happened around this sort of situation.

Catherine de Medici by Leonie Frieda is a biography of the controversial queen, a book that I thought was important to establish what was going on in France at the time. Her children were connected to many countries all across Europe. This book was helpful to me in so many ways, not only for explaining the political situation in much of Europe at the time, but dealing with all the problems that happened during her reign and so many things that I can't list....it would be a whole separate post in itself.

Scandalous Woman by Elizabeth Keri Mahon is a fantastic non fiction book about, well, Scandalous Women. Elizabeth Bathory is not featured, but stories of many other fantastic women are. This is a great read for history buffs, and I found helpful for character building. 

ABOUT COUNTESS BATHORY:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/3555482/Countess-Elizabeth-Bathory-icon-of-evil.html
http://www.ulliswelt.com/dateien/pics/Cachtice/Cachtice_en.html
http://www.uluv.sk/en/web/magazine/archive/year-2008/rud-032008/dress-according-to-a-portrait-of-elizabeth-bathory/
http://infamouslady.com/home
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_B%C3%A1thory

The Countess by Rebecca Johns is a historical fiction novel about the Countess, and I would highly recommend it. Johns is a very talented author and does the Countess justice, she brought a warmth and feeling to a deeply misunderstood woman.

Infamous Lady and The Private Letters of Countess Erzsebet Bathory by Kimberly Craft are both non fiction, the first an account of the Countess's life and with translations of the court documents from her trial in english, and Private Letters is exactly what it says, with scans and translations of documents. Dr.Craft spent many years researching and translating, much of the information is available for the first time in english in these books. Much of my version of the Countess is drawn from these books.
Anyone who wants to learn more should start here. 

The Bloody Countess by Valentine Penrose is very poetic and an interesting read. It's the first book I read about Countess Bathory, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It helps establish the background of what the world was like at the time.

Countess Dracula by Tony Thorne is also non fiction, and an entertaining read. He did a fantastic job of painting the full picture, not only of the Countess but the region, what was going on at the time, and many other background details that were lost other places.

I have not read Dracula was a Woman by Raymond T McNally yet, but I hope to.



No comments:

Post a Comment