Bits and pieces

The Historical Novel Society's 2012 conference in London is shaping up nicely.  The conference website is taking early bookings for the HNS's largest UK event so far, a 3-day (including optional excursions) gathering of historical fiction enthusiasts on September 28-30, 2012. Editors and agents will be taking pitches from prospective authors, and the international line-up of novelists who will be speaking is impressive.  The guests of honor are Lindsey Davis and Margaret George.

I'll be there, too, speaking about something historical fiction-related - the full program hasn't been posted yet - so keep your eye on the site for additional information.  Better yet, sign up for email updates via the link at the bottom of any conference page.

Fancy traveling to historical sites of major importance in the lives of the Tudor monarchs - Westminster Abbey, Hampton Court Palace, Hatfield House, Shakespeare's birthplace, and more - in the company of a bestselling historical novelist and fellow enthusiasts?  Margaret George will be leading a 10-day tour of England this October, "The Lives of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I," via Academic Travel.  See also an interview with Margaret about the tour via that link (see end of page).

Four years ago, I interviewed novelist Patricia O'Brien about Harriet and Isabella, an excellent dramatization of rock star preacher Henry Ward Beecher, his equally famous sisters, and the sex scandal involving Beecher that preoccupied late 19th-century America.  I was surprised to learn that O'Brien has a new historical novel out, but it's written under another name.

The New York Times broke the story about how O'Brien's agent, unsuccessful at selling her new novel under her real name due to a poor sales record, shopped The Dressmaker under a pseudonym - Kate Alcott - and sold the manuscript to Doubleday within three days.  The Dressmaker, about a plucky seamstress who survives the Titanic (a nice centennial tie-in there), was published last month.

Lastly, I was thrilled to read on her website that Kate Morton will have a new novel out later this year.  That's all that's posted for now, so I'll be on the lookout for more details later on.