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| Jacobites' Apprentice |
Throughout April I have invited 26 authors who had been selected as Editor's Choice by the Historical Novel Society Indie Reviews
to help me out with the 2016 A-Z Blog Challenge...
Except to be a little different I interviewed
their leading Character/s...
Today's Character is
from :
HH : Hello! I believe you exist in David Ebsworth’s novel, The Jacobites’ Apprentice. Would you like to introduce yourself – tell us your name, and what do you do?
My name?
Well, that rather depends on where, or perhaps when, you might have encountered
me. If you intend that time in which so many of us were pretending – Charles
Edward Stuart to the throne of England, and myself to serving as his agent –
then you may have known me as William Owen. And, la! What a dance I led those
Jacobite dogs while in that guise. They could have seized London, you may
collect, had I not spun such a deception to send them scuttling back to their
Highland hovels – and the fate they all so richly deserved. Yet, had you met me
in sweeter times, you may have been graced with my true name, Dudley Striker,
and in doing so exclaimed, ‘Sirrah, what a douce fellow he is!’
HH : Jacobites? That would be the Rising of 1745, I
suppose. So are you a real historical person or did your author create you?
Ebsworth,
you mean? The fellow claims to have created me, naturally. Based on one of
German George’s spies, Dudley Bradstreet, he says. Yet a pox on him, madam. Is
it not obvious that I am flesh and blood?
HH. Oh, indeed! But in a few brief sentences, might
you tell us about the novel in which you feature?
Sedition,
madam. It’s about sedition. Those Jacobites – Papists, for the most part – in
rebellion against our anointed king, George the Second, may the Almighty bless
him. And the rebels supported by rogues and Tory rascals in rats’ nests like
the towns of Manchester and Wrexham. It was my job to root them out. To stamp
out their damned treasons. But, God blind me, none of us could have foreseen where
it would lead us all.
HH : I ‘met’
my pirate, Jesamiah Acorne on a beach in Dorset, England - how did your author meet up with you?
Oh, the
scoundrel spins this tale about how he worked a while in Manchester itself, and
only then discovered the story of the town’s part in the Pretender’s rebellion.
He researched the background, he says, and came across this Bradstreet person. Inspired
him to write my character – and we had our first meeting in that damn’d
Manchester Coffee House.
HH : Tell me about one or two of the other
characters who feature with you. Who are some of the nice characters and who is
the nastiest one?
God’s
Hooks! A rum bunch. Young Aran Owen, for example, adopted as apprentice to
Titus Redmond, a Manchester merchant, smuggler and leading Jacobite. The
foolish lad was beholden to Redmond and devoted to his eldest daughter, Rosina.
But that fro’ward girl was driven by her own passions – for the local Coffee
House proprietor, a tribade, no less - Elizabeth Cooper. But Redmond had other
plans for the girl – a political marriage to his main rival, leader of the
Loyalist faction, James Bradley – yet unaware that the fellow was already playing
fast and loose all that time with Redmond’s own wife, Maria Louise. And each of
them up to their necks in the rebellion too – on one side or the other. But I
loved them all. They provided me with a considerable amount of amusement. Yet a
nasty character? I fear that does not quite signify, madam. Unless, perchance,
you might have been implying…
HH : No, not at all. Perhaps we should move on.
Maybe tell us about your favourite scene in the book?
Oh, it is
undoubtedly the one in which I was forced to persuade Aran Owen that he needed
to act as my eyes and ears within the Redmonds’ faction. He was imprisoned at Lancaster
Castle just then. A remarkable place. All manner of devices for helping one to
loosen the will of even the most reluctant accomplice.
HH : What is your least favourite? Maybe a
frightening or sad moment that your author wrote.
The trap
that he allowed Aran Owen to set for me and seek his revenge. Blast his eyes, I
swallowed the whole thing like the most innocent of bubbles. A riddle, by God’s
Teeth!
HH : What are you most proud of about your author?
Proud of
Ebsworth? The fellow’s nothing but a damn’d scribbler. Leaves me to take all
the risks and then claims the credit. There is this secret organisation he
belongs to, for example. Some “Historical Novel Society” – and he claims they
saw fit to make him a finalist in a contest. For this very tome, The Jacobites’ Apprentice, which would
be less than nothing without I graced its pages!
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| Master Ebsworth |
HH : Has your author written other books about you? If not, about other
characters? How do you feel about your author going off with someone else!
Indeed
not! And, as I pen this missive, I lie in some Welsh prison. At Caernarfon. Awaiting the Great Sessions,
the Welsh Assizes. They tell me I may meet my end hanging in chains on Twllhely Marshes. Well,
we shall see! And that faithless dog, Ebsworth? Yes, he has left me here to
rot, or worse, while he goes a-ranting about all manner of other strange places
and times.
HH : As a character if you could travel to a time
and place different to your own fictional setting where and when would you go?
Travel to
a different time? How fanciful. I cannot conceive of such a thing. But a
different place? Of course. Did I never tell thee, sweet one, how that pampered
peer, Lord Halifax, succeeded in claiming for his own almost five million acres
covering the Virginia Colony’s Northern Neck, including those lands worked by
my own family? Stole everything we possessed. But had I the freedom to do so, I
should return there and wreak a terrible vengeance on the dog. And, strangely,
I received word, while lying here, festering in this place, that the same Aran
Owen I mentioned earlier has himself been invited to join an expedition to the
American Colonies. As an artist. How jocose it might be if I could only find a
way to escape this prison, make my way to the Americas also. Surprise young Aran,
as you might say. I wonder, Good Mistress Hollick, might you have a word with
that fellow Ebsworth for me?
Well, I’ll do my best! But thank you anyway. That
was really interesting!
Now where can readers of this A-Z Blog Challenge
find out more about you and your author?
Website:
www.davidebsworth.com
Twitter:
@EbsworthDavid
Blog:
www.davidebsworth.com
Buy on
Here is the company we will be keeping on this
A-Z Blog Challenge!
APRIL
A 1st Friday
- Aurelia - Alison Morton
B 2nd Saturday - Bloodie Bones - Lucienne Boyce
C 4th
Monday - Man in the Canary Waistcoat Susan Grossey
D 5th
Tuesday - Dubh-Linn - James Nelson
E 6th
Wednesday - Evergreen In Red And White - Steven Kay
F 7th
Thursday - Fortune’s Fool- David Blixt
G 8th
Friday - Gift For The Magus - Linda Proud
H 9th
Saturday - The Love Letter of John Henry Holliday) - Mary Fancher
I 11th
Monday - In Liberty’s Wake - Alexandra Norland
J 12th
Tuesday - Jacobites' Apprentice - Dave McCall
K 13th
Wednesday - Khamsin- Inge Borg
L 14th
Thursday - Luck Bringer - Nick Brown
M 15th
Friday - Murder at Cirey - Cheryl Sawyer
O 18th
Monday - Out
Of Time - Loretta Livingstone
P 19th
Tuesday - Pirate Code - Helen Hollick
Q 20th
Wednesday - To Be A Queen – Annie Whitehead
R 21st
Thursday - The Spirit Room - Marschel Paul
S 22nd
Friday - Sower Of The Seeds Of Dreams - Bill Page
T 23rd
Saturday -Tristan & Iseult - Jane Dixon Smith
U 25th
Monday - A Just And Upright Man - John Lynch
V 26th
Tuesday - Victoria Blake – Far Away
W 27th
Wednesday - When Sorrows Come - Maria Dziedzan
X 28th
Thursday – The FlaX flower – AmandaMaclean
Y 29th
Friday - Young, Josa - Sail upon The Land
Z 30th
Saturday OZgur Sahin The Wrath of Brotherhood
So call back tomorrow
To meet the next exciting Character!
(unless it is Sunday - in which case, I'll have something different
but just as interesting !)
but just as interesting !)
I can definitely understand why William couldn't conceive of being anywhere else in time. I like your theme.
ReplyDeleteThank you J.L - we've had some fantastic characters already, and some superb ones to come!
DeleteThanks for the post, Helen. Loved doing this!
DeleteDavid it sounds from this as if you had a lot of fun with this fellow! Many congratulation at getting to the final. My suspicion is William won't end up hanging in chains at Twllhely Marshes. I hope not!
ReplyDeleteAs William Owen, Mistress Victoria, I suppose it could be argued that I deserve to dance the jig. But as Dudley Striker? Ungrateful nation to ignore the small matter of my saving the country single-handed from the Jacobite curse. I simply wish that Ebsworth would make up his mind, one way or the other. But I have a modest scheme of my own, and you can depend upon it that I shan't simply end my days in the gibbet!
DeleteOh, what a marvellous interview. William Owen, you are a most striking character - I'm delighted to meet you and hope your author ensures your speedy release.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteMistress Loretta? Give you joy of that exquisite name, my dear. Perhaps we might share a dish of geneva, a dash of diddle, at some stage - if you will forgive this rum dab for being so fro'ward. But you must call me Dudley, meanwhile. The name William Owen had now outlived its usefulness. And if I'm to escape the nubbing cheat, it must be under my true name - Dudley Striker. At your service, ma'am. Always!
DeleteOooh, very smooth, dear sir. I must confess, I am almost tempted. But la, I ever was attracted to a smooth-tongued rogue, and I fear no good would come of it. But, mayhap...well, who knows what the morrow may bring. (My husband, probably.) ��
DeleteOh, a fie upon all husbands, madam. And you think no good would come of such a tryst? Well...
DeleteWhat a wily old fellow you are; perhaps you justly deserve to be rotting in jail. Although I suspect your author might come to your rescue yet - if you stop maligning him; because we here are quite taken with his talent.
ReplyDeleteOld, sirrah? You said "old"? I collect that you have all grown bold as Nabobs in this strange world you now inhabit. But wily? Yes, I hope so, else I should not have survived so long among this Jacobite banditti. And I do not malign Ebsworth. He's not a bad fellow - for a scribbler. But do you know that he's never once killed a man? Never. How can that be?
DeleteSo very interesting. You know your character so well.
ReplyDeleteMeet My Imaginary Friends
#AtoZchallenge http://www.kathleenvalentineblog.com/
Thanks Kathleen. Just thought I'd try and get a word in edgeways before that peacock comes back. To be honest, villains like Dudley Striker are probably the easiest characters to write and remember. Or does that say more about me?? Hmmm. Oh, and please don't tell him I said "villain" - I'll never hear the end of it!
ReplyDeleteI doubt not that you'll gain your freedom, set sail for the Colony of Virginia, right old wrongs, and be running the place in no time! And though a well traveled man of your sensibilities may find Virginians a tad provincial, and think Williamsburg a rather small place, I'll wager you'll find few places as beautiful.
ReplyDeleteWilliamsburg, sweet lady? Yes, I know it. Our own lands lay within the Northern Neck but, as a child, I visited Williamsburg twice. And you have the right of it! A pretty little place. But the Virginians I knew best were far from provincial. They were Lenapes, skarure-speakers of the Algonquian tongue. They taught me much that I now value. Stealth and forest-craft. The proper use of knife and axe. And, my pardon for your sensibilities, mistress, but we used them well, to give short shrift to those damn'd Catawbas when they took to the war trail and came a-calling upon our territories. But you tempt me, madam. Might it be impertinent to ask that, if I am able to return, I might find you waiting there - in Williamsburg? La! Such a thought.
ReplyDeleteHallo Dave, great blog! Very funny to hear a character getting his own back on his author!!
ReplyDeleteIt's fair enough, isn't it? I spend all my days making life impossible for them. Can't expect them to like it very much. Except that, with Dudley Striker, I always had this sneaking suspicion...
DeleteIt's fair enough, isn't it? I spend all my days making life impossible for them. Can't expect them to like it very much. Except that, with Dudley Striker, I always had this sneaking suspicion...
DeleteZounds! This secret society of scribblers that the faithless dog Ebsworth belongs to sounds the stuff of sedition itself and should be rooted out before it takes hold and threatens order in the land.
ReplyDelete