Greetings from North Somerset

With all of Britain to choose from, where did I end up? Blagdon, "the middle of everywhere," as locals like to call it. Blagdon is a small village of around 1,600 souls in the Mendip hills of North Somerset. It has been a village for a very long time.

It was mentioned as Blachedon in the "Domesday Book" of 1086. The name comes from the Old English bloec and dun meaning the "black or bleak down."  The romans were there as early as 49 AD, but there are numerous archaeological sites in the nearby area that date back to the late Ice Age of the Mesolithic period.

A telephoto shot of our rental house (the middle of the three white houses a lower center) taken from the top of nearby Blackdown hill. 

The church of St. Andrew in the village.

Is this rustic enough for you?

Back in Blighty!

Back in Blighty at last! Me, the wife and our menagerie have returned to Britain. Here we are mugging for the camera outside our rental home. Somerset is gorgeous and a mind-boggling place for a history buff like myself to live. There is so much history almost literally on my doorstep, from the Mesolithic era to WW2. I'll be posting more as time allows

The Revenant of Thraxton Hall Now Has a Cover!

Wahoo! The next step in the process and unquestionably the sexiest so far, my book now has a cover.

And what a cover it is! I'm thrilled.

My editors at Minotaur wanted something that evoked the gothic/paranormal/mysterious aspects of the book without straying into horror novel territory.

I think this cover nails it. Dark and foreboding, with a hint of the whimsical.

What do you think about the cover? Would it make you buy the book?

Email me to tell me what you think of the cover at vaughnentwistle@gmail.com. Best response will win an autographed copy of The Revenant of Thraxton Hall when it comes out in March, 2014.

You can also click on the links to be taken to Amazon where you can preorder the book.

Moving Back to Blighty

Okay, it's official, the missus and me are moving back to England. We just returned from a three week research tour for my next two novels and decided it's the place for us. London was stupendous with its amazing museums and incredible architecture. Somerset was green and glorious. We visited the cathedral at Wells and decided that the this charming city (the smallest in England) would make a good place to live. We also visited Surrey and Sussex. Very lovely places, but I don't think we can afford a private farm with a built-in swimming pool, polo pitch and a string of polo ponies just yet. Still, all will provide future locations for my novels.

The main reason for the trip was research for the next two novels in the Paranormal Casebook Series. I spent time in The British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, The Museum of London. the British Library, the National Gallery and many others. The fact that these world-class museums are absolutely free to the public (you are encouraged to make donations and we did), made me proud to be a Brit. Theses museums are filled with some of civilization's greatest treasures and ensuring access to all, regardless of financial means, is wonderfully egalitarian. 

As I mentioned, this was a working holiday for me, and I spent hours accumulating research that will be incorporated into my novels. Along this line we visited Lydford Gorge in Dartmoor, an amazing water carved gorge with waterfalls, pools, and boiling cauldrons that will feature as a location in my third novel, currently being outlined. 

As a huge fan of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, I had to make a pilgrimage to Hindhead, Surrey to visit Undershaw, the home that Conan Doyle designed and had specially constructed for his family. The move to Surrey was to partake of the cleaner air, necessary to prolonging the life of his invalid wife, Louise, who lived many years with consumption (the dread disease of the Victorian age) but who survived, much longer than most victims, thanks, in large part, to Conan Doyle's diligent care. The house had a specially constructed shallow staircase to enable "Touie" as he lovingly called her, to climb the stairs with minimal effort. Sadly, these days Undershaw is in a sad state of dereliction  and is the center of a struggle between developers, who wish to split the property into luxury flats and build additional housing units on what are currently the gardens. To counter this, a society has been formed by the actor, novelist and producer Mark Gatiss (Mycroft Holmes in the current BBC Sherlock)  to  preserve Undershaw as an important cultural landmark: The Undershaw Preservation Trust: www.saveundershaw.com. 


Used briefly as a hotel, this lovely house with beautiful gardens, is but a ghost of its former self. 

The broken windows are boarded up tight. Vandals have stolen the lead from the roof. Many of the rooms are in ruins, but the building could and should be restored.

To lend your help, please join the Friends of Undershaw  by visiting their web site at www.saveundershaw.com and help preserve the home of one of history's most influential writers.

The Paranormal Casebooks of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Okay, I’ve been remiss in updating my blog. The reason? I’ve been incredibly busy writing. In September, 2011, my wonderful agent, Kimberley Cameron landed me a two book deal with St. Martin’s Press for my historical mystery series, The Paranormal Casebooks of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

The first book in the series is entitled, The Revenant of Thraxton Hall. Thankfully, my editors at Minotaur, (Keith Kahla, Executive Editor and Hannah Britten Editorial Assistant) required only relativley minor revisions to the book. The edits have now all been completed and I’m cranking away on the second novel in the series: Book 2: The Dead Assassin.

I should have galley proofs of The Revenant by July. The publishers are also working on the cover design, which I am really excited to see. I’m expecting to have that within the next six weeks. The book is finally going to seem real once I have cover art.

Most recently, my agent, Kimberley Cameron, gave me a wonderful plug while she was being interviewed by Writer’s Digest. You can read the full interview at: http://t.co/zEEOZ0at

The Paranormal Casebooks of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Okay, I’ve been remiss in updating my blog. The reason? I’ve been incredibly busy writing. In September, 2011, my wonderful agent, Kimberley Cameron landed me a two book deal with St. Martin’s Press for my historical mystery series, The Paranormal Casebooks of Sir Arthur Conan 

Doyle.

The first book in the series is entitled, The Revenant of Thraxton Hall. Thankfully, my editors at Minotaur, (Keith Kahla, Executive Editor and Hannah Britten Editorial Assistant) required only relativley minor revisions to the book. The edits have now all been completed and I’m cranking away on the second novel in the series: Book 2: The Dead Assassin.

 

I should have galley proofs of The Revenant by July. The publishers are also working on the cover design, which I am really excited to see. I’m expecting to have that within the next six weeks. The book is finally going to seem real once I have cover art.

Most recently, my agent, Kimberley Cameron, gave me a wonderful plug while she was being interviewed by Writer’s Digest. You can read the full interview at: http://t.co/zEEOZ0at

From Self-Published to Published in under Six Months!

2012 is turning out to be a stellar year for me. First, my self-published novel Angel of Highgate received an “Editorial Recommendation” from Kirkus Reviews.

Now I am thrilled to announce that I just signed a five-figure, two book deal with Keith Kahla at Minotaur for the publication of The Paranormal Casebooks of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, an historical mystery series pitched as a volatile cocktail of Sherlock Holmes-meets-the-X-Files with a dash of steam punk and a whiff of London fog.

Scheduled for publication in Winter 2014, The Revenant of Thraxton Hall is the first in a series of Casebooks where two of the most creative minds of Victorian England, Arthur Conan Doyle and the Irish playwright Oscar Wilde, solve bizarre murders, unravel diabolical plots and unearth long-buried mysteries—each with a paranormal twist.

The deal was negotiated by my super-agent, Kimberley Cameron of Kimberley Cameron & Associates (world). Kimberley conducted the negotiations from her Paris office, which necessitated many 4:00 a.m. (Paris time) phone calls to New York publishers. I signed with Kimberley as recently as February 12, 2012. We went through a few (relatively minor) edits of the book before she began the submission process. I must note that Kimberley is my second agent, but the first to sell a book. Her ability to land such a major deal for a first-time author in this economy is a testament to her reputation with the major publishers. I know I am extremely fortunate to be teamed with her.

A five-figure, two-book deal is truly amazing for a debut author. But it gets better. The Revenant of Thraxton Hall will be published first as a hardcover(!) and will receive international distribution! Wow! My head is still spinning!

 (Okay, I’ll stop now. I have just used up an entire years’ allotment of exclamation points.)

My wife Shelley and I recently jetted down to San Francisco to meet Kimberley and her husband David who graciously chauffeured us around Napa Valley where we stopped at the chateau at Domaine Carneros to crack a bottle of celebratory bubbly. Below are some photos from that sublime day. I can still taste the Tattinger.

Thank you again, to my wonderful agent, Kimberley Cameron. 

Below: Agent and Writer pose on the chateau steps. (Kimberley is the pretty one.)