Meet History Talks! Author Autumn Bardot #interview

Historical author Autumn Bardot is here to tell us about herself and her female characters.

Loving Historical Romance graphicBut before we start the interview, mark your calendars for Monday, Feb. 8th at 6:30PM! Autumn, Xina Uhl, Zenobia Neal and I will be doing a free panel discussion on Loving Historical Romance for the Santa Clarita Public Library. Click here to register for this fun event. Blogger Erin Davies will moderate. Click on the event under Feb. 8th to register.

Author Autumn BardotLM: Welcome, Autumn. Tell me, what do you do for a living? How does writing fit into life?

AB: I teach advanced literary analysis and writing in a world-accredited international program. Yep, I teach the smartie pants. But I also teach regular students too. I have a degree in English Literature, a MaEd, and a teaching credential. I’m a MFA drop out—it was too expensive and seriously cut into my writing time! I write All The Time. It’s my top priority. Writing comes before laundry and all those annoying household tasks. Writing and authoring are my Zen and Happy Place.

LM: What’s your home life like?

AB: Backstory first. I reared four children, attended college, and worked. Learning how to multi-task and stay focused was essential! My once super busy household is now in the past, but those lessons remained. My home is quiet, and I have a supportive husband and a son who cooks dinner.

LM: What are your hobbies?

AB: Besides writing—which is more obsession than hobby—I love to swim and go to the beach. I’m always up for travel and wine tasting.

LM: What’s a dream you have? How are you working toward this dream?

AB: As an author of 10 books, I am almost living my dream. My books are Out There. I’ve met lots of wonderful readers and writers. My books are in bookstores, I’ve been a guest on several podcasts, have articles on notable sites, and a NYC book club featured one of my books. It sure would be nice to earn enough from book sales to quit the day job and live at the beach, but for now I’ll keep pluggin’ along.

LM: Do you have a role model? What quality about this person do you especially admire?

I interned with a fabulous teacher. She was savvy, intelligent, creative, personable, and realistic. We became great friends over the years, and I admired not only her gift for teaching but her grace for handling all those bureaucratic hoops and teaching snafus. Now retired, she decided to pursue her other passions, writing children’s stories and painting. She is a truly good, kind-hearted, and authentic person; one who gives of her heart and talents. Wanting to pay it forward, I decided to begin a YouTube channel.

LM: What historical period is your favorite? Why?

AB: My novels span history, from ancient to the 1800’s, but ancient and medieval history are my favorites. When I write or read a book from those time periods, both the decadence and horrors come alive in a way that stir my imagination.

LM: Tell us a little about your characters and their strengths and weaknesses.

AB: All my novels focus on women who come into their strength and power. Women who struggle with external and internal conflicts. Women who rise up to be their best, most authentic selves. Their strengths emerge through their grit and determination. They don’t just overcome horror and hardship, they become empowered by it. Their weaknesses, like all of us, come from not embracing their true selves, to clinging to restrictive dogmas and cultural expectations.

LM: Will readers like or dislike your characters, and why?

AB: Well, the hope is that readers like them, right? My characters don’t always do the right thing, yet they are very much representative of their time and culture. And often that realistic portrayal no longer aligns with modern sensibilities. But I believe that’s the attraction for many historical fiction readers. They want to experience and appreciate a bygone time.

LM: What’s next?

AB: I finished a modern dramedy (comedy drama) urban fantasy about four goddesses who are fired and made mortal. Publication date to be determined. My current project is a historical fiction about an amazing event I learned about while vacationing in Greece.

Autumn Bardot books graphic

Autumn’s Books:

The Impaler’s Wife

A young woman is swept into a life of intrigue, revenge, passion, and betrayal when she falls for the world’s most notorious prince, Vlad Dracula.

The Emperor's Assassin coverDragon Lady

The triumph of the notorious Zheng Yi Sao is a fierce and unflinching story of how a prostitute became the most powerful and successful pirate in the world.

The Emperor’s Assassin

A young herbalist is forced into a world of decadence and corruption when Nero commands her to become his personal poisoner. The Emperor’s Assassin chronicles the life of Locusta of Gaul, a shadowy historical figure whose poisonous deeds remain only conjectures.

Historical Erotica (Cleis Press)

Confessions of a Sheba Queen

A temptress. A jinni. A queen. A determined young woman pursues revenge, lust, and wealth but instead finds friendship, love, and purpose.

Legends of Lust, Erotic Myths from Around the World

Run wild in your personal Elysian Fields of pleasure with this spicy, irreverent peek into the sensual world of our most beloved gods, heroes, fairies, and shape shifters from every corner of the earth.

She has also written a 4-book urban fantasy series under the pen name L.Z. Marie.

You can find her online at:

Website: http://www.autumnbardot.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/autumnbardot
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/AutumnBardotAuthor
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/autumnbardot
Amazon: https://amazon.com/author/autumnbardot
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/autumn-bardot
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/autumnbardot/
YouTube: https://rb.gy/6tsx0e

Meet Electra Yellowsmith from History Talks! Author Xina Marie Uhl’s Antarctic #romance

Xina Marie Uhl is here today to tell us more about the heroine of All Mouth and No Trousers: A Sweet Romance (An Icebound Tale) set in the exotic locale of Antarctica.

Loving Historical Romance graphicBut before we start the interview, mark your calendars for Monday, Feb. 8th at 6:30PM! Xina, Autumn Bardo, Zenobia Neal and I will be doing a free panel discussion on Loving Historical Romance for the Santa Clarita Public Library. Click here to register for this fun event. Blogger Erin Davies will moderate. Click on the event under Feb. 8th to register.

Electra YellowsmithLM: Xina, tell us about Eletra Yellowsmith.

XU: Electa Yellowsmith, a self-possessed, smart-mouthed secretary on the British Antarctic Base. She’s beautiful and well aware of her effect on men, and she uses that to her advantage. She’s also quite choosy, and knows just what she wants: the blustery, recently divorced, utterly clueless commandant.

LM: What are her greatest strengths?

XU: Persistence and cleverness. Once she knows what she wants she zeroes in on accomplishing her goals. That doesn’t mean she’s always successful, though.

LM: What are her greatest weaknesses?

XU: She can come off as haughty in order to keep herself from being hurt. It’s not easy for her to be vulnerable, and putting her heart on the line doesn’t come natural.

LM: What are some of her favorite foods?

XU: Champagne, caviar, and shortbread biscuits.

LM: Sounds good to me! Will readers like or dislike this character, and why?

It depends on which of the Icebound tales they read. According to the main character in Whiter Pastures, she’s not sympathetic, but that’s okay since she has a minor role there. She’s a main character in All Mouth and No Trousers, and as such she’s amusing and interesting to read about.

LM: What first gave you the idea for the Icebound stories: Whiter Pastures and All Mouth and No Trousers?

XU: A combination of factors: my love of explorer stories, fascination with the Antarctic, desire to make people laugh, and coming across this article: 106 of the Least Popular Baby Names in American History (I’m determined to write stories in which I name my characters each of these).

LM: LOL, that’s a lot of names! I’ll have to check out the article. What do you like best about Icebound stories?

XU: They are fun despite the rather grim history of Antarctica. I love to write about quirky people and these characters have unlikely adventures which makes them even more fun.

Two romantic novellas in the Icebound series, an ongoing collection of polar delights.

Behold dogsleds and penguins.

Howling winds and cold, pitiless wastes.

This is Antarctica, where the intrepid inhabitants of the frozen ends of the earth battle the terrain, and each other, to find love—in a past much like that of the early 1900s.

Whiter Pastures coverReluctant spinster Florance Barton fled to the British Antarctic base to escape a scandalous love affair. Amidst the handful of other women there, Florance is the perfect chambermaid, meek, mild, and forgettable. No one has a clue that she’s also a novice spy.

When handsome young Handy McHanagan arrives at the base, he sets everyone agog. He’s charming, artistic, and … an accomplished gardener. His arrival may be a mistake on the part of naval command. Or is it something more sinister?

Killer seals and subzero ice storms and aren’t the only danger in Antarctica: a enemy spy is on the loose. Florance has been ordered to choose between queen and country and her heart. Because penguin is off the menu now–and murder is its replacement.

All Mouth cover

Amidst the scientists and explorers at the British Antarctic base in 1900 there are a few women who serve as maids, cooks, and nurses.

Then there’s Electa Yellowsmith.

The beautiful blonde secretary has no problem attracting male attention, but she’s got her eye set on Commander Gorge Elderbatch. He may yell like a longshoreman and drink like a fish, but Electa likes the cut of his jib, and the idea of being an officer’s wife.

Gorge has enough trouble with ice crevasses, blizzard forecasts, and upcoming polar expeditions without his smart-mouthed secretary defying him at every turn. What could a looker like her want with a grump like him, anyhow? Especially since he’s sworn off women after his disastrous divorce.

Gorge may be as dense as an iceberg, but Electa hasn’t yet met a man she couldn’t charm. Though if that doesn’t work she has plenty of schemes that just might. The result is a comedy of errors and explosions in a frostbitten frontier.

Buy Links:

All Mouth and No Trousers: https://books2read.com/u/mZjx9R

Whiter Pastures: https://books2read.com/u/bPZKxj

Author Details

Website: http://www.xuwriter.com
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/xinamarieuhl
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/XinaMarieUhl/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/xuwriter/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/xuwriter
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Xina-Marie-Uhl/e/B00E7AKNR4

Newsletter signup link http://bit.ly/30qhIAS (Includes a free short story when you sign up)

Other books published:

Necropolis: https://books2read.com/u/3Gd8nO
The Cats’ Guide to Human Behavior: https://books2read.com/u/mVKjoZ
The King’s Champion: https://books2read.com/u/4DWXvk
Lady Law and the Texas DeRangers: https://books2read.com/u/38MkoL

Xina, thanks for visiting! See you on the 8th.

Linda McLaughlin