Mosaic Moments from the Gallery

 Since I'm totally swamped by edits for The Stone Soldier and the Lady and Blogger decided to delete half my blog as I uploaded the final picture (!), a gallery of Mosaic Moments will have to do for this week's blog. But not without mention of the tragedy in Texas. Such a horrible loss of human life that might have been prevented if the area had gone through with plans for a warning siren - "under discussion" since 2016! But the efforts of those who worked non-stop at rescue and recovery is truly heroic, as are the efforts of teams from all over the country who have joined the unbelievably demanding recovery efforts since the flood. However many faults our politicians my have, the American people always come through in a crisis.

BUT . . .

Our storms become worse and worse. Floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, et al. We MUST fight those who claim Global Warming is a myth before it's not only too late for warning sirens but too late to build a fleet of Arks! 

 

From the Orlando Sentinel:  

 

 Shades of the past—from 1953:

  

Sheri Cobb South's backyard, June 2025

 

For anyone who thinks those are male deer, they're ELK.

 

General Sherman Tree

The General Sherman Tree is in Sequoia National Forest, CA. It is 275 tall, 36 feet in diameter, and believed to be around 2200 years old.

Altamonte Springs, FL - by Steve Studenc

Weekee Wachee Springs, FL - by Paul Delegatto

Glencoe, Scotland - by "Visit Scotland"

~ * ~

 This week's featured series:

A storm is featured in one of the Matthew Wolfe novellas, but I can't remember which one, so below are all three covers, plus the blurb for Book 3. (This is the series designed to be light and amusing during the dark times of the Covid crisis.)                                                  

 

Matthew Wolfe's life has been one problem after another, most of them dramatic, many dangerous, and some heart-breaking. Despite all the friends he has made and all he has learned along the way, he knows only a tantalizing hint of his father's family and nothing about his mother's. As Book 3 opens, he is hoping to combine the pursuit of an elusive gang of gem thieves with a closer look into a possible personal link to the royal family of a small Alpine country, when, suddenly, Jocelyn Ainsley pops back into his life and, along with her, his worst problem—the trauma of his mother's death in childbirth, which has left Matthew determined never to marry. (Even if a bastard from Seven Dials could ever raise his eyes as high as the daughter of a baronet.)

In this final book of the series, Matthew's dramatic past, his adventurous present, and his remarkable future finally come together as he discovers both sides of his heritage, settles the Affair of the Gem Thieves in an unexpected and bittersweet fashion, and, with perhaps too much advice from friends and family, is forced to face the final challenge standing in the way of Happily Ever After.

 

~ * ~

For a link to Blair's website, click here. 

For Blair's Facebook Author Page, click here.*

 

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Thanks for stopping by,

Grace (Blair Bancroft) 

EXCERPT from THE STONE SOLDIER & THE LADY

Next Blog:  Sunday, June 13, 2025 

 

Photo by Susan Coventry

 

It's always a good time for a bit of the Bard.

Even more true after passing the horrid "Big Beautiful Bill" 

~ * ~

 

Excerpt from The Stone Soldier and the Lady 

The Stone Soldier began life as The Phantoms Voices of Lark House. But as the story progressed, I realized what was intended as Regency Gothic #13 was turning into a Regency Romance with strong elements of Adventure and the Paranormal, and I started searching for a new title. The introduction of the Phantoms, however, changed very little, except to be moved to the very beginning of the book. (And provide an excellent example of "Tell" instead of "Show" - except for the snippet at the end).

 

Prologue

The Phantoms of Lark House

Harald
Harald Sigurdsen, Viking raider and would-be farmer, gazed in awe at the ring of towering stones jutting skyward from a stark, flat, plain and knew this was the place the gods had chosen. Here he would settle, as close to the standing stones as he could find soil that was more than skin deep. Here he would raise a family, mixing his blood with those who had trod this plain before. Perhaps, gods willing, with the descendants of the beings who had created the massive circle of stones.

Fortunately, as Harald rode east across the flat sea of stunted grass, a shadow rose in the distance, a shadow that gradually revealed itself as a curved copse of good-sized trees. Trees that marked the spot where  inhospitable chalk gave way to arable soil—perhaps not as rich as Harald would like, but enough for a Viking farmer to grow crops and feed his family, certain that whatever gods created that ring of stones would assure success in his new land.

Alice
Three hundred years later, Alice, Lady St. Aubyn, retired to the falling-to-ruin Viking farmhouse on the land where trees still formed a sheltered homesite. Alice had stood fast as chatelaine of her husband’s modest castle during the years he followed Richard the Lionheart on Crusade. When her lord never returned, she continued to keep a firm grip on the estate. Until, that is, her son was grown and married the upstart daughter of a new-made baron who thought she now reigned! 

Alice decamped in a huff to the ancient farmhouse on the edge of the castle grounds, refurbished it to properly suit her station, and in a defiant bout of the sulks against the daughter-in-law who set her merlin to hunting the glorious-voiced larks in the neighborhood, renamed the cottage “Lark House.”

Thomas
The thatched cottage and small farms around it remained tranquil and undisturbed until Thomas Desborough, Lord Rossiter—a handsome, charming, quick-witted courtier at Queen Elizabeth’s court—caught his monarch’s eye. His advancement was steady, resulting in an earldom and a vast tract of land near Salisbury Plain. In the process of building a grand country house near the ruins of a Medieval castle, he tore down the thatched cottage sheltered by a curved stand of trees and replaced it with a relatively small but impressive redbrick dwelling, which he designated the dower house for his burgeoning estate. 

He did, however, keep the name: Lark House.

Avery
The Reverend Lord Avery Desborough came to Lark House at the turn of the eighteenth century. A reluctant, and frequently hesitant, vicar, he had never been comfortable with the role dictated for a third son and retired as soon as his eldest brother became Marquess of Brynthorpe. Lord Avery and Chester, his valet—men of a similar persuasion—enjoyed a quarter century of quietly happy and uneventful years at Lark House, while Avery’s brothers added three lively sons to the Desborough line—one, the great-grandfather of Major Lord Lucian Desborough, husband of Victoire, the now-widowed Marchioness of Brynthorpe. 

Spring, 1816

   There’s darkness 'round his head, Harald, the Viking grumbled, peering down at the small boy on a pony.
   Around our lady as well, Thomas, the Elizabethan courtier, pointed out, staring at the boy’s mother, who was quietly observing her son’s riding lesson.
   Darkness closing in. No escape! wailed Avery, the reluctant vicar.
   Lady Alice, one-time Medieval chatelaine, proclaimed. We must warn her!
   Tonight, Harald decreed. Together, we tell her.
   Murmurs of assent whispered through the rafters as the phantoms of Lark House continued to keep eternal watch over the small portion of Wiltshire each had once called home. 

 ~ * ~ 

THE STONE SOLDIER AND THE LADY

A soul-wounded soldier and a widowed marchioness tread a rocky road to romance.

When the uncle of a six-year-old marquess threatens to take him from his widowed mother, as well as urge her to marry his rakish son, Victoire, Marchioness of Brynthorpe, hires a war-weary band of ex-soldiers as bodyguards. The resulting clash reverberates from Wiltshire to London as Captain Fox, the Stone Soldier, turns out to be far more than his military rank implies.

Violent conflict, an unexpected and rocky romance, close-held secrets—all to the tune of comments and advice from five resident phantoms. Yet even when our hero and heroine see sunny skies at last, one more problem rears its ugly head.

~ * ~

For a link to Blair's website, click here. 

For Blair's Facebook Author Page, click here.*

 

For recent blogs, scroll down. For Archives, see the menu on the right.

 

Thanks for stopping by,

Grace (Blair Bancroft) 

 

GALLERY & POV NOTE

New Note on POV:  

Oh, the excitement of beginning a top-to-bottom edit of my latest! . . . except I soon discovered it was a perfect illustration of how to break all those rules mentioned in my articles on Point of View. Not that I didn't admit breaking them, but oh-so-blatantly . . . ?

The Prologue is totally  "Tell instead of Show," (rather than follow the rule of "Show, don't Tell"). The main part of the book begins in the POV of a secondary character. I used multiple POVs, changing POVs without so much as a single space between the paragraphs! And it's possible the hero gets to express his POV more than the heroine! 

Naughty me. But I'm not sure how else I could have told the tale of a Regency warrior with what we'd call PTSD, a widowed marchioness, and five resident phantoms representing a thousand years of British history. 

I'm clearly not going to make the hoped-for pub date of June 30, but soon after you should have an opportunity to judge my transgressions for yourself when, hopefully, you read The Stone Soldier and the Lady. 

GALLERY 

I've been saving a number of photos for a Featured Gallery. The first, a true surprise. On Tuesday night at our annual Choir Dinner, I'm sitting across from our Choir Director when he announces he has an award to give out, and while I'm wondering who the recipient is, he says, "For Grace," and hands me a fancy tissue-papered bag with an absolutely splendid plaque inside. The occasion—I resigned this year from my long-time efforts as Choir Librarian.

 

Near Sarasota, FL - pic by Paul Dellegato, Fox 13

 

 

S

Sunset, Sarasota, 6/25. Paul Delegatto, Fox 13

 

I lived 25 years in Venice, FL (20 miles south of Sarasota), and always love it when a good pic pops up on Facebook. Below, two sunset beauties taken this month by Christopher Suckow (presumably drone shots).

 

 And on to Politics . . .

Titled:  "Heedless"

 

~ * ~

 Featured Book:

 Since my years in Venice, FL, are mentioned above, I've chosen Death by Marriage as this week's featured book. This contemporary mystery is not only set in Venice, it features a costume shop—something I know a lot about as I ran one for three years in Venice, creating 80% of the costumes myself. Sadly, I was branded as a Regency author way back when, and my contemporary mysteries see little traffic. I'd really appreciate it if you take a peek at this mystery. I can absolutely guarantee the setting is authentic! Hopefully, the mystery intriguing as well.

Costume designers are not detectives. But when a customer ends up dead in Gwyn Halliday's best Santa suit and a senior friend is threatened, what's a girl to do? And besides, a bit of investigation might promote a better acquaintance with the hunky new police chief, not to mention reestablish an old acquaintance with a friend suffering from PTSD, who now needs her as much as she needs him. 

~ * ~

For a link to Blair's website, click here. 

For Blair's Facebook Author Page, click here.*

 

For recent blogs, scroll down. For Archives, see the menu on the right.

 

Thanks for stopping by,

Grace (Blair Bancroft) 

BLATANTLY POLITICAL

 

 

Below, the protest sign made by a trans friend in a city that shall remain nameless. A friend so terrified she is considering moving to Canada.

 

 

BLATANTLY POLITICAL

 The following poem appeared on Facebook on Sunday, June 15, 2025, the day after Trump's parade down the sparsely lined streets of Washington, DC. It was posted by "One Match." I had to think about that one for a minute, but I believe the name comes from the idea that it takes but a single match to spark a huge conflagration. In this case, a rebellion against tyranny and dictatorship. I immediately copied the poem, knowing it was a "must" for my blog. I urge you to read it carefully, for the USA is rapidly approaching a crisis point. We are in imminent danger of losing the Democracy our forefathers fought for. Our President is thumbing his nose at government "of the people, by the people, for the people." He is ignoring both the Legislative and Judicial branches of the government, acting as if the Constitution did not exist. We cannot stand by and let him do it. And so said the MILLIONS OF PEOPLE across the country who turned out to protest Trump's king-like actions. 

 

Poem posted by One Match:

 
Once upon a time, there lived an evil man who wanted to be king.
No matter how many times he lied,
how loudly he shouted,
how often he cheated,
how much he stole,
how many enemies he invented—
the people never truly loved him.
So he tried harder.
He threw himself a grand birthday parade.
He ordered the soldiers to march—
not for country,
not for freedom,
but for him.
He wanted uniforms.
Flags.
The thunder of boots.
Not to honor the nation—
but to feed the illusion.
The troops came because they had to.
But their steps were off.
Their faces were blank.
They didn’t march for him.
They marched in quiet defiance.
Still, he imagined crowds.
Adoration.
Loyalty.
Tanks rolled. Fireworks cracked.
History to be rewritten.
But no one came.
And so he saluted—to empty bleachers.
A hollow gesture from a hollow man,
facing row after row of plastic chairs
that mirrored the void inside him.
His kingdom had grown tired.
Tired of the lies.
Tired of the cruelty.
Tired of fear wrapped in flags and sold as strength.
And on that very day—his birthday—they rose.
Mighty.
Unshaken.
Done.
They didn’t rise for vengeance.
They rose for something he could never understand—truth, dignity, and the dream he tried to destroy.
Yes, he had his loyalists—men and women who echoed his every word, not out of love,
but because they were paid to perform.
Just like his wives.
Just like his children.
Bought. Branded. Scripted smiles.
There was no real love.
Not from them.
Not ever.
Not from his mother.
Not from his father.
Not from a single soul.
Only leverage.
Only transactions.
Only power for rent.
And that’s what he became:
A man so hollow, he mistook obedience for love,
and fear for loyalty.
A vessel for power.
A shell for sale.
A soul long gone.
He wanted to be king.
But in the end,
he was just a man—
alone.
unloved.
saluting no one.
Performing for ghosts.
And though he stood there in costume,
wrapped in symbols he never earned,
the people had already moved on.
They rose.
And they kept rising.  
In song. In silence. In streets. In spirit.
In every truth spoken, every lie rejected.
In every hand held, every neighbor protected.
In every step that says: He could not break them.
They rose with courage.    
They rose with care.
They rose  with conviction.
And they could not be stopped.
Because the arc bends when we push.
Because the light breaks through when we stand together.               
And no crown forged in cruelty
could stop what’s coming.  
✍  One Match

~ * ~

 I chose The Sometime Bride for this week's featured book, as, in addition to being a romance, it is the story of the last seven years of Europe's twenty-year battle against a tyrant who was not willing to settle for being "king" of one country but attempted to conquer the world, from Europe to the Mediterranean to Russia. His name? Napoleon Bonaparte. 

 

 

A very young bride finds herself married to an enigmatic British spy "for her safety." And is plunged into a seven-year, highly personal view of the Peninsular War—ending, after years of blind devotion, in discovering a betrayal of her trust so immense she can only wonder: Is she the sometime bride of a man who never existed? A discarded mistress? Or a beloved wife whose only rival is her husband's expediency in a time of war?

Author's Note: In addition to being a saga of young lovers caught up in a war, The Sometime Bride is the history of the Peninsular War, Britain's fight against Napoleon in Portugal and Spain. The story moves from France's invasion of Portugal and British troops being driven into the sea at La Coruña to the return of British troops under General Sir Arthur Wellesley, the fortified lines at Torres Vedras, and the gradual push of French troops across Spain and back to France. Plus the chaotic times in Paris after Napoleon's surrender and the Emperor's triumph as he gathers up his old troops, only to be stopped in one of the most famous and bloody battles in history—Waterloo.

Reviews:

Reviewers Choice Award. "Sometimes a reviewer gets a book so powerful, it's hard to know where to begin to tell about it. The Sometime Bride is such a book. . . . Bride passes every criterion for a successful book that I was given as a reviewer. Ms Bancroft weaves a most unusual love story in among the threads of history that cover eight years. . . . I highly recommend both Tarleton's Wife and The Sometime Bride as companion books. They are totally independent, but together give a vastly enlightening and entertaining view of the period through use of wonderful characters and page-turner plots—definite keepers, both." Jane Bowers, Romance Communications

"The writing talent displayed by the author is wonderful . . . Ms. Bancroft's detail for historical events is phenomenal. . . ."
April Redmon, Romantic Times

Five Stars. "Set against the bloody Napoleonic wars, The Sometime Bride is ambitious, engrossing and absolutely wonderful."
Rickey R. Mallory, Affaire de Coeur

Five Stars. "The Sometime Bride by Blair Bancroft is a riveting and well-written story. . . . The tension between the hero and heroine sizzles. . . ." Janet Lane Walters, Scribes World

~ * ~

For a link to Blair's website, click here. 

For Blair's Facebook Author Page, click here.*

 

For recent blogs, scroll down. For Archives, see the menu on the right.

 

Thanks for stopping by,

Grace (Blair Bancroft) 

 

WRITING - POINT OF VIEW - Addendum

Saturday, June 14, 2025 - 11:15 p.m.

HURRAY! FOR THE MILLIONS WHO MARCHED - 

PEACEFULLY - IN "NO KINGS" PROTESTS 

FROM COAST TO COAST.

~  *  ~  

 Gallery:

My mother is featured in my POV post below, from back in the days when she wrote serial romances for Dell's Modern Romances. She told me that the day she paid the tuition for my last semester of college, she put aside the "pulp fiction" that had paid for my education and began to write children's books.

In my Facebook Memories this week—this pic of my mother's many children's books lying on the dining room table in my new home in Longwood, waiting for me to shelve them (May 2015). They ended up in a giant wooden bookcase in my bedroom. Looking back, I wonder how my volunteer (mostly family) crew managed to wrestle my many heavy pieces of furniture into the house. FYI, my mother, like so many female authors of the period, included her maiden name on her books:  Wilma Pitchford Hays. 

 

Below, two FB posts from this morning (6/14/25). How very sad that FB posts have shifted from kids, travel, and chit-chat to instructions for keeping protests peaceful. VITAL instructions as right here in Florida, a local sheriff (shown on the TV evening news) promised (not threatened, promised) to KILL any protestors who turned violent. NOT that I am advocating violence, but talk about going too far . . .

 

 ~ * ~

WRITING - POINT OF VIEW

Addendum

  

A Note to Authors of Fiction other than Romance 

Since all my books, whether Regency or Contemporary, are some form of Romance and most of my Blog followers are Romance authors, my posts on Point of View have been geared to Romance Fiction. There is, however, little difference in Point of View when writing other genres. Third Person tends to be the norm, as well as Multiple POV. Which does not mean there are no Mysteries or Thrillers written in First Person or Third Person from just one person's Point of View. 

A story occurred to me about my third book, the Romantic Suspense Shadowed Paradise and first Contemporary, written more than twenty years ago. I edited and re-edited that book (as I do with every book), but I never a touched a word of the scenes I wrote in the Villain's Point of View. It was as if they poured out of the mouth of a real person, and I was privileged to write his words down. And then I recalled my mother's story from her days writing serial romances for the Dell magazine Modern Romances. 

My mother had her story all worked out and then somehow at the end of the next-to last installment the three main characters all ended up in a lake together. "I never meant that to happen," my mother wailed. Interestingly, in the end Dell took advantage of this unexpected event and asked readers to choose which "hero" was saved. 

Which leads me to another example of what happens to those of us who write "out of the mist." I am NOT a planner. Always keeping my mother's experience at the forefront of my mind, I just love sitting down at the keyboard and letting my fingers tell me what is happening in my story today. Yes, of course, I've thought about it, sometimes even "worried" several different approaches, but 90% of the time my fingers type something out of the blue. From a link that should have been there to a new and wonderful tangent that had never even occurred to me. I LOVE surprises. Love how they unfold naturally from the story, making it much better. 

As an example, since the beginning of The Stone Soldier and the Lady, I have been determined to have the final dramatic action scene take place at Stonehenge. Except when more closely examined, the details of each idea simply didn't work. Today was Big Scene day, and my head was blank. Grimly, I sat down on my bed with a legal pad and pen in hand, and invited inspiration. And almost immediately it came to me:  I needed to leave the POVs of the Hero and Heroine behind and insert a scene from the Villain's POV. Notes flew, filling two pages. I'd done it! I rushed to my keyboard and translated my notes into the set-up for the Big Action Scene, which I have yet to write. Yes, this was a Close Call for a "seat of the pants" author, but in the end my system worked. Sigh.

Grace note:  Today, more villain POV. I had intended to switch back, but no way, no how—my villain had more to say.  (Fun, isn't it, when your charcters take over?)

The moral of this tale? 

Whatever corner you write yourself into, consider a change of POV to get you out.

SERIES SUMMARY.

Never forget that whether you are presenting your work in First or Third Person, there are multiple ways to do so. Write from the Point of View in which you are most comfortable, but never fear to branch out, try something new. Maybe the scene that doesn't quite work might be stunner from a different POV. And above all, never scorn other's people approach to POV. Something you hate may be just what readers love. (I've certainly shaken my head more than once over a "best-seller.")

Be brave. Branch out. (Unless being adventurous will make your editor scream.)

For indie authors and those who work for more enlightened editors, feel free to experiment. There's nothing more deadening to creativity than same-old, same-old.

~ * ~

Two books featured this week—the companion Romantic Suspense, Shadowed Paradise and Paradise Burning, both set in Venice, FL, where I lived for 25 years (and kept watch over my elderly mother, who lived to the amazing age of 98) before moving to the Orlando area to be near the grandchildren. 

    When Claire Langdon's affluent, near-fairytale life in New York is shattered by scandal, she and her eight-year-old son Jamie take refuge with her grandmother in Florida. Once a bright, confident young woman, Claire has been so badly hurt that when she stumbles onto a genuine downhome hero, learning to trust, to love again, seem beyond her reach. She is also forced to deal with the discovery that there are more serious dangers in Florida than alligators, snakes, spiders, and macho males. Like a serial killer, with her name on his list.

Reviews:

"Marvelously versatile, wondrously creative, intelligently written and sensuously inventive, Bancroft's Shadowed Paradise adds new meaning to the therm 'romantic suspense.' . . . as fresh as tomorrow and seriously scary. I loved it."
Celia Merenyi, A Romance Review

"Shadowed Paradise contains all the elements I so enjoy in a book, excellent dialogue, great character development and fine descriptive scenes. The romance is steamy, the suspense is taut and exciting, and the result is a supremely satisfying, well-developed read, guaranteed to keep you glued throughout."
Astrid Kinn, Romance Reviews Today 

 

     Suffering from burn-out, Mandy Armitage, a vital member of her family's international investigations agency, is sent on a working vacation to Florida—as research assistant to a best-selling author. The only problem: the author is the husband she hasn't seen in five years. As if that weren't enough of a challenge, her assignment plunges her into the darkness of international human trafficking and the ruthless men who run it. As the world around her literally goes up in flames, the girl once known as Mandy Mouse metamorphoses into a dynamic, independent woman as she discovers how easily black and white can dissolve into shades of gray.

Author's Note: Although Paradise Burning is a stand-alone book, reading Shadowed Paradise first (which contains several cross-over characters) may add to your enjoyment.

~ * ~

For a link to Blair's website, click here. 

For Blair's Facebook Author Page, click here.*

 

For recent blogs, scroll down. For Archives, see the menu on the right.

 

Thanks for stopping by,

Grace (Blair Bancroft)