A good morning to all the readers and visitors to my blog!
To-day, my blog, “Ananya Scribbles Around”, has been hijacked by my dear friend and indie author, Dr.Watson. She is from Italy, specifically Sardinia, and although being a Doctorate student in Science, she has a great interest in researching history, my favourite subject. We met on Wattpad, but really became friends on Twitter. We often share the same opinion about a lot of things!
Let’s read on to see what she has got to say to-day!
Hello, readers of Ananya’s blog. I’m Dr.Watson, writer of historical fiction and fantasy based in Sardinia. First of all, I want to thank Ananya for offering me the chance to write a guest post on her blog, in sight of the upcoming publication of my English debut, on July 25th.
Song Among the Ruins is a historical gothic book with a dual timeline, the oldest one following real historical events that took place in Sardinia around 1668, and the main timeline following the adventures of Rosalia and Elias in 1830s’ Cuglieri (central north Sardinia). I published my first book last year, a historical fiction collection of novellas on Sardinian medieval history in Italian, which makes Song Among the Ruins my English debut, the first one marketed to a totally different audience.
Song Among the Ruins is actually the result of many years of personal and writing evolution. As a child and teenager, my favourite fiction genre has always been horror. I used to invent ghost stories, sometimes not fully original, and was attracted to the genre (Goosebumps series, Supernatural, anyone?). I cultivated my passion for horror even in more recent years, until the new, fervent passion for historical fiction took place. I also used to write in very diverse settings, from the typical American haunted town, to a French-inspired kingdom, to completely made-up worlds. It’s been only on the occasion of my Italian debut that I actually began writing about Sardinia and realised that I had something to say that others, in the English-speaking writing community, didn’t have. Song Among the Ruins is the first in a new branch of my writing activity that mixes all of this: history, horror, Sardinian culture and roots, written in English. When I told my mother my book was just “a ghost story”, she replied that she was indeed wondering when I would have written one.
While the creation of the brand took several years of experimentation, the book itself took rather little. Song Among the Ruins releases on July 25th, the first anniversary of the fire of the Montiferru that burned 20,000 hectares of forest and cultivated fields last year. That exact day I was finalising my research, searching for pictures in preparation for the drafting phase. The events of those days, which left the area very damaged both environmentally and economically, have been hard to swallow. When I started writing, several of the places in the book had been burnt or destroyed.
Like most books of Sardinian literature, Song Among the Ruins is deeply rooted in its setting. This is reflected not only in the importance given to the history and folklore of the place, but in the importance of the environment, which becomes a character itself (luckily, this is also a characteristic trait of gothic fiction). Sardinia is filled with ghost stories and right there, in Cuglieri, exists a well-known legend that links a local historical site, the castle of Montiferru, with the noble family that inhabited it, the Zatrillas family. My original idea was that of a single timeline, in 1830, but the more I researched the legend and the backstory, the more I realised its potential (and I wasn’t the first one! Many people have historically been aware of this). Without knowing, my book became a dual timeline gothic book, very fitting this year’s book trends.
The events of the 1668 timeline are some of the most important of Sardinian history of the Spanish period. They have their roots in the rivalry between local noble families, in the familial ties between the characters, in the fight of the local power (expressed by the nobles and the Parliament) against the Spanish ministers and Viceroy that were representatives of the monarchic power. The 17th century in Europe, and especially in the Crown of Spain, was a period of very easy bloodsheds, duels, plots and clearly strong passions. Again, perfectly fitting for a gothic book (or any book, actually…). It was also a time in which people in power could drive juridical trials in their favour, even if it meant condemning (and sentencing to death) innocent people. The details of the events are still partially unclear because of this, and because what is told and becomes “history” is not always the true History.
Book description:
Cagliari, 1668. Francisca, Countess of Cuglieri and Marchioness of Siete Fuentes, lives a comfortable life as the wife of one of the most influential political figures of Cagliari’s high society, the Marquess of Laconi. After openly speaking against the Viceroy of the Kingdom of Sardinia and his officials, the Marquess is murdered under unclear circumstances, but the revenge of his relatives turns against the Spanish caste. The Viceroy is murdered and the game of trials begins. Francisca and her lover, Silvestro Aymerich, become the suspects of the homicides.
Cuglieri, 1830. Rosalia wants to see the ruins of the castle of Montiferru and Elias would indulge her in anything in his attempt to reveal his secret love for her, included visiting the castle allegedly haunted by the Marchioness’ ghost. Soon they realise the legend might not be completely unfounded and strange phenomena unfold around them: ghostly appearances, nightmares and, especially, attempts at their own lives.
Thank you, Dr.Watson, for accepting my invitation to appear on my blog! It’s been a real pleasure reading about the background of your book and I think the readers of this blog will say the same! You, like a lot of my friends both online and in real life, inspire me a lot with my own work and creativity. I wish you a lot of success with your books!
You can find Dr.Watson’s book, “Song Among the Ruins”, here.
You can find Dr.Watson on social media:
Dr.Watson’s Goodreads | Dr.Watson’s Amazon Author Page
Dr.Watson’s Twitter | Dr.Watson’s YouTube | Dr.Watson’s Facebook page
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