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| The Five W's Guest Author Series |
I am presently in the middle of the anthology and in awe of how unique each story is even when every one of them includes the quirky shop-keeper, Miss Moonshine. The settings of the story are the same, Haven Bridge, but the eras are different, yet each author takes care to keep Miss Moonshine the same, no matter what age. The stories are imaginative and entertaining. You may want to click the Amazon Buy Link now, instead of waiting to see if you win the FREE paperback.
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| Miss Moonshine’s Emporium of Happy Endings, by the Authors on the Edge Anthology of romantic stories. |
WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY and HOW
by Helena Fairfax
Thank you, JQ, for inviting me to take part in your series!
My latest story, Beatrice Marches for Women, is part of an anthology of stories written by eight other authors and myself – all friends from the north of England, and all romance writers. Normally when we are writing our novels or short stories, we work on the 5Ws completely alone, but being part of an anthology means collaborating on ideas in a different way. Putting this collection together with a thoroughly professional bunch of writers and a lovely group of friends has been a real pleasure from start to finish, and a break from our solitary writing pursuits.
So in backwards order, HOW did we come up with the idea to put together an anthology?
As I mentioned, we all of us live in the north of England. We meet regularly for lunch in Hebden Bridge, which is a historic mill town on the border between the counties of Yorkshire and Lancashire. One day over lunch we got talking (we talk a LOT!) and we realised we all wrote different styles of romance. Then we got to thinking how much fun it would be to put a collection of our stories together. Since we meet on the border between two counties, we decided to call ourselves Authors on the Edge.
WHY put together an anthology?
Once you start writing professionally, sometimes the zest can go out of your writing. Maybe you have to meet a deadline, and so you’re burning the midnight oil at your keyboard. Maybe you are sending manuscripts off to magazines or agents, and you have to keep fielding rejection. Maybe you are on the fourth round of edits from your publisher, and you are sick of the sight of your own story. We thought putting an anthology together would be something we could do at our own pace, would allow us to be as creative as we wanted...and would above all be fun!
WHERE would the stories in the anthology be set?
That one is easy to answer. Hebden Bridge has always been our meeting place. It’s a beautiful and unusual old mill town, in a valley with rolling green hills around it, and full of historic old terraced houses, quirky shops, a canal lined with narroboats, and cafes. Haven Bridge became our fictionalised Hebden Bridge.
WHEN?
Now, this question posed a bit of a dilemma. Some of us write contemporary romance, some of us historical, and some of us flit between the two. After much conversation, we decided we should each choose the period that felt right for our own story, as long as the stories and characters were linked consistently through the anthology.
WHAT was I going to write about for my story?
For the past year, I’ve been researching into the lives of women in Halifax, which is another old mill town near Hebden Bridge, but much bigger. Researching the lives of the mill women has been an eye-opener. I decided to set my story in 1908, at the time of a real suffragette march in Hebden Bridge. My heroine is a young woman who wants to change her own life, but feels stifled by the time she’s living in. Then she meets....
WHO?
Miss Moonshine is the “Who?” of our collection. Dear Miss M has been the key to our anthology’s success so far, and she is the character who ties all of our stories together. Miss Moonshine owns a quirky shop on the High Street in Hebden Bridge. She’s an eccentric and she appears to have been in the town forever. In each of our stories, the heroine enters Miss Moonshine’s shop and finds the thing she most needs in life – even though sometimes she doesn’t realise there is anything missing.
Readers have really taken to our Miss Moonshine as she appears in each of our stories, and between the nine of us authors, we have started to think of her ourselves as a real character – someone whose shop we would love to walk into on the High Street in Hebden Bridge!
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| Miss Moonshine’s Emporium of Happy Endings by the Authors on the Edge |
Miss Moonshine’s Emporium of Happy Endings by the Authors on the Edge is available in print and as an ebook on Amazon.
Back of the Book:
Sometimes what you need is right there waiting for you...
Miss Moonshine’s Wonderful Emporium has stood in the pretty Yorkshire town of Haven Bridge for as long as anyone can remember. With her ever-changing stock, Miss Moonshine has a rare gift for providing exactly what her customers need: a fire opal necklace that provides a glimpse of a different life; a novel whose phantom doodler casts a spell over the reader; a music box whose song links love affairs across the generations. One thing is for certain: after visiting Miss Moonshine’s quirky shop, life is never the same again...
Nine romantic novelists from Yorkshire and Lancashire, including best-selling and award-winning authors, have joined together to create this collection of uplifting stories guaranteed to warm your heart. This intriguing mix of historical and contemporary romances will make you laugh, cry, and believe in the happy-ever-after.
Miss Moonshine’s Wonderful Emporium has stood in the pretty Yorkshire town of Haven Bridge for as long as anyone can remember. With her ever-changing stock, Miss Moonshine has a rare gift for providing exactly what her customers need: a fire opal necklace that provides a glimpse of a different life; a novel whose phantom doodler casts a spell over the reader; a music box whose song links love affairs across the generations. One thing is for certain: after visiting Miss Moonshine’s quirky shop, life is never the same again...
Nine romantic novelists from Yorkshire and Lancashire, including best-selling and award-winning authors, have joined together to create this collection of uplifting stories guaranteed to warm your heart. This intriguing mix of historical and contemporary romances will make you laugh, cry, and believe in the happy-ever-after.
Authors on the Edge members are Mary Jayne Baker, Sophie Claire, Jacqui Cooper, Helena Fairfax, Kate Field, Melinda Hammond, Marie Laval, Helen Pollard, and Angela Wren.
Much cake was consumed by these authors in the making of this anthology.
About Helena:
Helena Fairfax is a British author who was born in Uganda and came to England as a child. She's grown used to the cold now which is just as well, since these days she lives in an old Victorian mill town in the north of England, right next door to the windswept Yorkshire moors. Helena walks this romantic landscape every day with her rescue dog, finding it the perfect place to dream up her heroes and her happy endings. Subscribers to Helena's newsletter receive news of free stuff, competitions with prizes, gossip, and links to cool websites she's been looking at when she should have been writing.
Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/cR_m71
Connect online with Helena:
Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/cR_m71 (all new subscribers receive a free novella)
Website: www.helenafairfax.com
Pinterest https://uk.pinterest.com/helenafairfax/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/helenafairfax/
Remember to leave a comment to win a digital file of Miss Moonshine's Emporium of Happy Endings.
Remember to leave a comment to win a digital file of Miss Moonshine's Emporium of Happy Endings.
AND my birthday celebration continues through May 31. Prizes will be selected from the Birthday Grab Bag for lucky commenters. Find out more below. Thank you for stopping in!
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| Here's the Birthday Grab Bag loaded with gifts for you. WHAT'S IN THE GRAB BAG? 📘COUPONS for mystery suspense eBook, Terror on Sunshine Boulevard 📙PAPERBACK COPY of Romantic suspense, Dangerous Sanctuary 📗FOR WRITERS--PDF COPY of Romance and Mystery Authors on Writing: Helpful Tips on the Writing Process, Publishing and Marketing 📚PDF COPY-Quick Tips on Vegetable Gardening 🍬🍫CHOCOLATE and CANDY DEADLINE FOR ENTRY-11:59 PM MAY 31
3 WAYS TO ENTER to win one of these prizes:
1. Leave your name below in the comments box
2. Like my Facebook page and FB message me or leave a comment
Click here for my FB J.Q. Rose author page.
3. Email me--jqrose02 at gmail dot com
On June 1, I'll grab a gift to send the winners via FB Messenger or email.
Print books will be sent via snail mail US only.
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14 comments:
Thanks so much for having me during your birthday week, JQ, and for including me in the celebrations. I'm about to have some real cake and a cup of tea. Happy birthday!
I think it would be fun to do an anthology. I never seem to be at the right place to join one though.
Hi Helena, So happy to host you. Thanks for the birthday wishes and eat another piece of cake for me, please!
Hi Joselyn, Maybe we should think about a Koffee Kuppe anthology?
Hi Joselyn, putting the anthology together was a lot of fun. JQ is right - perhaps you could find a few more authors and produce one together!
Thanks for dropping in!
Great post, gals. Love, love, love your story, Helena. The whole idea for the anthology is very clever. Hope y'all do very well with it. I shared. :)
Thanks so much for your lovely comment, Marsha. And thanks for sharing - we appreciate it!
Hi Marsha, Thanks for sharing the post. More people need to know about this book and enjoy the feel-good stories.
What a super prize. Here's hoping. 😘
Fingers crossed, Carolyn. Thanks for dropping in!
Hi CarolynD, This IS a wonderful prize. Thank you for stopping by.
Congratulations to CarolynD, winner of the anthology! Enjoy Carolyn! Lots of touching stories in it for you to enjoy.
Congratulations, Carolyn! A copy is on its way to you. I do hope you enjoy our stories! x
So pleased to have won. Thank you so much x
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