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Interview with April J. Skelly
Interview with April J. Skelly, whose new historical mystery series, set in the Gilded Age, is appearing with Crooked Lane Books
cplesley
Apr 18, 20255 min read


Interview with Jane Yang
Interview with Jane Yang, whose historical novel The Lotus Shoes, set in imperial China, came out from Park Row Books in January 2025
cplesley
Apr 11, 20258 min read


Interview with Elise Hooper
Interview with the historical novelist Elise Hooper, whose The Library of Lost Dollhouses, has just come out with William Morrow
cplesley
Apr 4, 20254 min read


New Books Network Interview: Victoria Christopher Murray
New Books Network interview with the historical novelist Victoria Christopher Murray, whose Harlem Rhapsody just came out with Berkley
cplesley
Mar 28, 20252 min read


Bookshelf, Spring 2025
My Spring 2025 bookshelf, with historical fiction by Alka Joshi, Joanna Lowell, Mimi Matthews, Joanna Miller, Kathleen Renk, and Karen Swan
cplesley
Mar 21, 20256 min read


Interview with Kate Maruyama
Interview with Kate Maruyama, whose latest historical/contemporary novel is just out with Running Wild Press
cplesley
Mar 14, 20256 min read


Interview with Su Chang
Interview with Su Chang, whose debut novel The Immortal Woman has just come out with House of Anansi
cplesley
Mar 7, 20255 min read


Interview with Leonard Goldberg
Interview with Leonard Goldberg, whose latest addition to his Daughter of Sherlock Holmes series is due from Pegasus Books in March 2025
cplesley
Feb 28, 20256 min read


New Books Network Interview: Elyse Durham
New Books Network interview with Elyse Durham, whose Maya and Natasha, a novel about Soviet ballet, will soon be out from Mariner Books
cplesley
Feb 21, 20252 min read


Interview with Andrea Pickens
Interview with Andrea Pickens, whose historical romances are being reissued by Oliver Heber Books throughout 2025
cplesley
Feb 14, 20255 min read


Writing Series Characters
On problems with keeping characters' details straight while writing the Legends of the 5 Directions and Songs of Steppe & Forest series
cplesley
Feb 7, 20252 min read


Interview with Joseph Finder
Interview with the contemporary thriller writer Joseph Finder, whose latest novel, The Oligarch's Daughter, came out in January 2025
cplesley
Jan 31, 20254 min read


Bookshelf, Winter 2025
Novels on my bookshelf, Winter 2025, by Su Chang, Elyse Durham, Lora Jones, Kate Maruyama, Victoria Christopher Murray, and Jane Yang
cplesley
Jan 24, 20255 min read


New Books Network Interview: Fiona Davis
New Books Network interview with Fiona Davis, whose latest historical novel, "The Stolen Queen," just came out from Dutton
cplesley
Jan 17, 20252 min read


Interview with Kate Mosse
Interview with Kate Mosse, whose historical novel "The Map of Bones" has just appeared, closing out her Joubert Family Chronicles series
cplesley
Jan 10, 20257 min read


A New Year of Interviews
A sneak peek at author interviews planned for January 2025, with Fiona Davis, Joseph Finder, Poppy Kuroki, and Kate Mosse
cplesley
Jan 3, 20254 min read


The Annual Overview, 2024
C. P. Lesley's annual overview of tasks attempted, accomplished, and not yet attained in 2024
cplesley
Dec 27, 20243 min read


New Books Network Interview: Suzanne Allain
New Books Network interview with Suzanne Allain, acclaimed author of Regency-era historical romance
cplesley
Dec 20, 20241 min read


Watching Characters Grow
A discussion of what an author means by "watching characters grow" in a single novel or across a series
cplesley
Dec 13, 20244 min read


The Pluses and Minuses of Procrastinating
A short discussion about the pluses and minuses of procrastinating while writing, exemplified by my own work
cplesley
Dec 6, 20243 min read
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