Stories of Plague in the Time of COVID: A Live Event (You Can Now See a Replay)

The New York City chapter of the Historical Novel Society cordially invites you to a live internet event you can attend for free on Tuesday, October 6, at noon Eastern Time. Please adjust for your time zone--I'll be joining from Spain, so 6 p.m. for me.

UPDATE: This event took place as planned, and it turned out great! See the replay on YouTube. 

Stories of Plague in the Time of COVID will unite eight of the nine international bestselling authors from the We All Fall Down anthology for the first time ever! Although the title might sound like a bit of a downer, the overwhelming takeaway from these stories is that the human spirit has survived even the darkest times... and it will survive these dark times. 

The authors attending will be: 

* David Blixt

* Kristin Gleeson

* Jean Gill

* Yours truly, Jessica Knauss writing as J. K. Knauss

* Laura Morelli

* Deborah Swift

* Melodie Winawer 

* Lisa J. Yarde 

You're sure to find a new favorite in historical fiction. 

Sign up here to join via Zoom, where you will be able to ask the authors your own questions during the session! 

Register here to watch on Facebook live and submit your questions ahead of time. 

You'll receive a link to the event the day of. Our NYC chapter of the HNS has lots of experience with these events and things are all set to go smoothly. 

At the end of the meeting, three attendees will be chosen to receive a free copy of We All Fall Down in Kindle or epub. 

So join us for a chat about hope and resilience! See you there!  

Quarantine Photo Essay

The Lenten fairground for kids, seen from the castle 3/6. 

The Lenten fairground is still there, just completely shut down, 3/14.

Life has changed drastically over the last few days. We're not supposed to leave the house except for essential food and hygiene reasons. I'm still okay, and in fact, being a writer, if my roommate weren't so antsy, things might seem pretty much normal. Creepy empty streets, shows of support, and the first thing to crop up among the Spanish is humor.

Horrible toilet paper from the 70s becomes an object of desire. 

Crowded fairground, 3/8. 

A famous comic put to timely use in a meme. 

"Recommendations" in the teacher's lavatory, 3/10.

"A meteorite!" "Run! We need toilet paper!" 

Toilet paper mystery solved:
For every one who coughs,
one hundred sh*t themselves. 

New protocols for the people who clean
the hallways in our apartment building, 3/10. 

They asked our grandparents to go to war;
they'e only asking us to stay home.
Solidarity with the voluntary isolation which was
quickly becoming mandatory.  

Holy Week cancelled. Only
Pontius Pilate will go out in procession
because he's the only one
who washes his hands. 

People are allowed to walk their dogs during quarantine.
I can't say this kind of humor amuses me. 

Day 2 of quarantine with the kids at home...
We don't pay teachers enough.
(Truth.) 

Confusion over some of the quarantine
rules: Why are the hair salons
still open? Maybe it was this guy's idea.
(He's one of the Vice Presidents
of Spain and has always had
luxurious hair.) The idea is really to help
people who can't take care of
their own hygiene, and most hair salons
that don't serve anyone like that have closed.
I was the last customer at mine on Friday,
early afternoon. 

"Let's see if I understand: To avoid contagion,
I can go to work, to the bank, then go buy
bread, walk the dog, get some smokes, wait
in line at the butcher's, the fruit store,
fish store, and supermarket.
Then I can go to the optometrist,
pick up my comforter from the dry cleaner,
and get a haircut after I full up the car.
But I can't leave the house. Is that right?"

The President of Spain responds, 

"Well, I have no f*cking idea, but if 

that's what I said, that's what I said."

"In order to have a group of more than 1000 people,
in Zamora we have to bring people in from elsewhere."
I don't love humor that pokes fun at Empty Spain. 

"Man quarantined with his mother-in-law
requests euthanasia."
Hardy har har. 

 A playground cordoned off with police tape.
The first thing that really creeped me out. 3/13.

Another cordoned-off playground, 3/14,
the day I panic-bought chocolate.

 The Plaza Mayor empty on a Saturday night, 3/14.

People practice social distancing, a hard concept in Spain. 3/14. 

The most popular pub-crawl street, totally
deserted on Saturday evening. Gave me chills. 

"Sorry for the trouble," one of the bars on
the pub-crawl street. 

 Younglings, impervious to world crises, hanging
out at the castle as if everything's normal.

Zamora's doughty defenses can't stop a virus. 

The theatre where my roommate and I
were going to have a spectacular choir
concert this coming weekend, eerily quiet. 

"Thank you to Public Health. You are our true heroes and heroines."
Not sure any health professionals will see this,
but their heart is in the right place.

Part of the view from my quarantined apartment.
It kind of reminds me Morocco.
Ah! Remember when we used to be able to travel?

The cat seeks to avoid contamination.
3/16

Zamora with Santiago de los Caballeros, the castle, and the cathedral under
a supermoon, 3/8. It's waiting for us. It will be there, beautiful, when this is over. 

If you are isolating, and are a Kindle Unlimited member, I remind you that unique Rhode Island fantasy Awash in Talent is yours to read for free! And check out the free reading listed here. (Not all, but most of the readings on that page are free.) As this situation goes on, I plan to offer more fun reading material. If people let me concentrate with all their emotional support via text message!

We All Fall Down Debut a "Viral" Success

We All Fall Down has hit a nerve. It's the most successful new release I've ever had, though goodness knows I always work very hard, hoping for such results. This time, my new release has so many factors in its favor. A gorgeous cover! The support of loyal readers of eight other terrific authors!  And that little something extra, a relationship to what everyone is thinking about, anyway.

One of our authors said, feeling quite ooky about it, "I feel like COVID-19 is a co-author."

Coronavirus is incredibly contagious, but has a relatively low death rate. Considering the first round of the Black Death wiped out half the population of Europe, there's really no comparison. The stories in We All Fall Down are really universal because they illustrate the way humans bounce back, even after the worst. They're worth a read any time, truly.

The universal buy link is here. Or go directly to your favorite store:

Goodreads | Amazon.com | Amazon.es | Amazon.com.mx | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.ca | Barnes and Noble | Apple iBooks | Kobo | 24 Symbols | Smashwords | Indigo | Angus & Robertson | Mondadori

It was an honor and a pleasure to work with all the authors. I'm thrilled our efforts are coming to fruition. Thank you so much for making this book a success! 

A Brand New Release with Eight Other Historical Fiction Authors

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for voting for Seven Noble Knights in the TaleFlick Discovery Contest. The week was packed with meeting new people and feeling supported, something that is all too rare for an author. Seven Noble Knights finished in 14th place. It's not a win, but it's not bad, either, considering the competition! I couldn't have done it without your support, so THANK YOU.

I don't have much to show my gratitude aside from some interesting little medieval stories for free:

Get "Trout Riot," a one-act play, in three different formats for free here.















And now for the great cover reveal!

We All Fall Down: Stories of Plague and Resilience is the result of a unique collaboration between nine bestselling and award-winning historical fiction authors: yours truly, Kristin Gleeson, Lisa Yarde, David Blixt, Deborah Swift, Jean Gill, Katherine Pym, Laura Morelli, and Melodie Winawer.

Plague has no favorites.

In this anthology, USA Today, international bestselling, and award-winning authors imagine a world where anyone—rich, poor, young, old—might be well in the morning and dead by sundown.

Readers will follow in the footsteps of those who fought to rebuild shattered lives as the plague left desolation in its wake.

* An Irish woman tends her dying father while the Normans threaten her life and property—

* A Hispano-Muslim doctor fights the authorities to stem the spread of the deadly pestilence at great personal cost—

* A Tuscan street hawker and a fresco painter watch citizens perish all around them even as they paint a better future—

* A Spanish noblewoman lives at the mercy of a jealous queen after plague kills the king—

* The Black Death leaves an uncertain legacy to Dante’s son—

* In Venice, the artist Titian agonizes over a death in obscurity—

* A Scottish thief loses everything to plague and repents in the hope of preventing more losses—

* Two teenagers from 2020 time-travel to plague-stricken London and are forever changed—

* And when death rules in Ottoman-occupied Greece, a Turk decides his own fate.

Nine tales bound together by humanity’s fortitude in the face of despair: a powerful collection of stories for our own time.

In dark and deadly times, love and courage shine bright.

My story immerses the reader in the harrowing final years of Leonor Núñez de Guzmán y Ponce de León, the true love of Alfonso XI of Castile. Alfonso XI was the only monarch to succumb to the Black Death. Though his jealous queen stripped Leonor of all her power, she has gone down in history as the mother of Enrique II of Castile, the first king of the Trastámara line.

We All Fall Down will be available for ebook purchase on March 1! Preorder it at many venues here.

Goodreads | Amazon.com | Amazon.es | Amazon.com.mx | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.ca | Barnes and Noble | Apple iBooks | Kobo | 24 Symbols | Smashwords | Indigo | Angus & Robertson | Mondadori

Find new authors, locales, and time periods to love in this slim volume packed with substance. Softcover to follow very soon.


¡Grandes noticias para mis lectores en español! Por fin está disponible Mundos impredecibles en las tiendas Amazon: Amazon.com, Amazon.es y Amazon.com.mx.

Subscribers to my newsletter saw the amazing cover of We All Fall Down last night and found out about the magical science fantasy I'm currently working on. Just sayin'.