We're thrilled to share that we've passed 100,000 hits on our new Coffee Pot Book Club blog, which started in late summer of 2022.
Thank you, lovely followers! 💞
And we're celebrating this fantastic milestone with a fabulous giveaway!
💝💝💝
1st prize: 1x ESPRESSO BOOK BLAST
Runners-up: 2x Premier Book Spotlight Posts
In order to be in with a chance, please comment to this post below with your answer to the following question:
"What is the most unusual object
featured in your book?"
The contest is open internationally. Rules & Regulations apply (see below).
Deadline:
Sunday, March 17th, 2024 at midnight CET (UTC+1)
Rules & Regulations for participating:
- One entry per author.
- Espresso Book Blast – open to historical fiction (incl. sub-categories) / historical non-fiction only!
- Premier Book Spotlights – open to any genre, but must be PG-rated.
- Contest is open to published (traditional, hybrid, or self-published) authors worldwide.
- Please name the title of the book you'd like to be featured in your comment.
- The book must be available to pre-order or purchase in English online and / or physical stores.
- All accepted replies to this post will be published manually, so please bear with us and don't try again if you can't see your comment straight away.
- Clean comments only (must be PG). Spam and nasty comments will be deleted.
- If you can't comment here for technical reasons, please head to The Coffee Pot Book Club Café on FB and add your comment to the thread there.
- Cathie's husband, Laurence, (unrelated to The Coffee Pot Book Club and its associates) will choose the winner and two runners-up from the list.
- The Coffee Pot Book Club will not enter into negotiation with anyone who was not chosen. Our decision is final, and not negotiable.
- The Espresso Book Blast must take place between June - September 2024. The chosen title will automatically be entered into the Coffee Pot Book Club Book of the Year Awards 2024 in one category.
- The Premier Book Spotlight dates are flexible, and posts may contain an excerpt and / or a guest post. Books featured are not eligible for the Book of the Year Awards 2024.
- The general Rules & Regulations of The Coffee Pot Book Club apply.
All rights reserved. The Coffee Pot Book Club, March 2024.
We're looking forward to reading your comments, and we hope you'll be raising a glass with us in celebration. 🎉
Thank you for supporting The Coffee Pot Book Club, promoter of quality historical fiction since 2015. See you on your next coffee break!
Love and light,
Cathie xx
The most unusual object in my book “In Silence Cries the Heart” is Gloine nan Druidh, Druids’ Glass.
ReplyDeleteHow intriguing, Catherine! Thanks for taking part. :-)
DeleteA toad stone. During the Renaissance, it was believed that toads had stones in their heads that could protect against poison. The reality is the people were finding tiny prehistoric fossils! 😛
ReplyDeleteOh wow. How unusual! Thanks for taking part. :-)
DeleteThe most unusual object in my book (The Ghostly Father) is a potion that brings about the likeness of death.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds fascinating. Thank you for taking part. :-)
DeleteThe most unusual object in my 11th century historical fiction 'Courage of the Conquered' is a golden throne powered by hydraulics that lifted the Emperor into the air. It was flanked with automata lions and griffins that roared and lashed their tails while metallic auomata birds sang.
ReplyDeleteOh, how clever! Thank you for taking part, Anna. :-)
DeleteCongratulations Coffee Pot Blog! In The Scandalous Life of Nancy Randolph (May 2024 release) there's a trial where the use of gum gaiacum - a plant-based medicine used today as a food additive and expectorant, but historically was used as a treatment for syphilis, or to produce an abortion - causes a great deal of drama.
ReplyDeleteHow fascinating – and scary! Thank you for taking part, Kate. :-)
DeleteCongrats! Such a wonderful achievement! And this question really made me think - not only of the sameness and difference in a work of historical fiction, but how true it is that ''The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.' So my unusual object is related to that, and what I used in a scene in All Manner of Things, where I imagine the life of Katherine of Aragon through the eyes of her dear friend Maria de Salinas. It was inspired by true history - and the sixteen-year-old Katherine was indeed rather shocked to find England such a foreign country:
DeleteMaría stumbled on the final, uneven step, almost falling into a dark hallway. An awful smell hit her like a solid wall. She gagged, edged closer to her friend.
“Saint Michael’s sword.” Catalina held a pomander to her nose. “Have we walked into a privy?”
Wishing she had remembered to bring her own pomander, María raked her eyes over every bit of floor near them. The light was too dim to see properly. “Perchance there is one near here.
What else explains it?”
The vile stench wafted over from the side of the stairwell. María paced a few cautious steps forward, thinking she might see a privy door, and stepped into a puddle. The stench hitting her like never before, she jumped back in disgust. “By all the Saints in good Heaven!” The privy nearby? Jesu’, I but stand in it.
María lifted her skirts higher from the ground, treading more warily, and moved to stand by Catalina. Hurrying with her down the hallway, she asked Catalina, “Can you imagine what
the queen, your mother, would say?”
Catalina screwed up her face in unmistakable abhorrence.
“My mother does not expect her subjects to act worse than animals, fouling where they live. When I am queen, this will not happen. I cannot believe Queen Elizabeth brooks such
behaviour.”
What a fascinating (if somewhat revolting) glimpse into Tudor life, Wendy. I'm as disgusted as the ladies. :-)
DeleteThank you for taking part.
The most unusual object in my 1920 historical mystery, SLAIN OVER SPUMONI, is a toothpick box that a character uses to hold cinnamon-flavored toothpicks, his favorite.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds brilliant. Thank you for taking part. :-)
DeleteIn my historical fiction book "The Light of India" Nur Jahan receives two rocks. One is orange with black stripes and the other is brown. She received them from her time at the Karni Mata Temple, AKA Rat Temple. They are touched by the spirits as well as the lessons of Tiger and Rat.
ReplyDeleteHow delightful! Thank you for taking part. :-)
DeleteHow about Unusual for the time? Henry IV was the first King of England to use cannons in siege warfare. He gave especial attention to the new art of artillery and was even said to have contributed personally to their construction. In my novel THE ACCURSED KING, Henry brought his cannons to the north. At the siege of Berwick (when he was chasing Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland):
ReplyDelete"The bombard was brought up and carefully prepared as the defenders watched apprehensively from the battlements. They had never seen a cannon this size before and didn’t know what to expect. Too soon, they found out. With a gigantic blast, a huge stone ball crashed against Percy tower, shaking it to its foundation. As the men watched in horror, the stones shook and slowly crumbled, then the whole side collapsed into itself. Henry later learned that a man climbing the stairs was crushed to death."
Thanks for the Giveaway! Congratulations
Wow, I did not know. Poor guy on the stairs.
DeleteThank you for taking part. :-)
A big Thank You to all those who've taken part in our competition, both here, and on FB.
ReplyDeleteWe'll announce the winners later today, right here at The Coffee Pot Book Club! :-)