by Edgar Allan Poe

The “Red Death” had long devastated the country. No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous. Blood was its Avatar and its seal—the redness and the horror of blood. There were sharp pains, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores, with dissolution. The scarlet stains upon the body and especially upon the face of the victim, were the pest ban which shut him out from the aid and from the sympathy of his fellow-men. And the whole seizure, progress and termination of the disease, were the incidents of half an hour.

But the Prince Prospero was happy and dauntless and sagacious. When his dominions were half depopulated, he summoned to his presence a thousand hale and light-hearted friends from among the knights and dames of his court, and with these retired to the deep seclusion of one of his castellated abbeys. This was an extensive and magnificent structure, the creation of the prince’s own eccentric yet august taste. A strong and lofty wall girdled it in. This wall had gates of iron. The courtiers, having entered, brought furnaces and massy hammers and welded the bolts. They resolved to leave means neither of ingress nor egress to the sudden impulses of despair or of frenzy from within. The abbey was amply provisioned. With such precautions the courtiers might bid defiance to contagion. The external world could take care of itself. In the meantime it was folly to grieve, or to think. The prince had provided all the appliances of pleasure. There were buffoons, there were improvisatori, there were ballet-dancers, there were musicians, there was Beauty, there was wine. All these and security were within. Without was the “Red Death”.

It was towards the close of the fifth or sixth month of his seclusion, and while the pestilence raged most furiously abroad, that the Prince Prospero entertained his thousand friends at a masked ball of the most unusual magnificence.

It was a voluptuous scene, that masquerade. But first let me tell of the rooms in which it was held. These were seven—an imperial suite. In many palaces, however, such suites form a long and straight vista, while the folding doors slide back nearly to the walls on either hand, so that the view of the whole extent is scarcely impeded. Here the case was very different, as might have been expected from the duke’s love of the bizarre. The apartments were so irregularly disposed that the vision embraced but little more than one at a time. There was a sharp turn at every twenty or thirty yards, and at each turn a novel effect. To the right and left, in the middle of each wall, a tall and narrow Gothic window looked out upon a closed corridor which pursued the windings of the suite. These windows were of stained glass whose colour varied in accordance with the prevailing hue of the decorations of the chamber into which it opened. That at the eastern extremity was hung, for example in blue—and vividly blue were its windows. The second chamber was purple in its ornaments and tapestries, and here the panes were purple. The third was green throughout, and so were the casements. The fourth was furnished and lighted with orange—the fifth with white—the sixth with violet. The seventh apartment was closely shrouded in black velvet tapestries that hung all over the ceiling and down the walls, falling in heavy folds upon a carpet of the same material and hue. But in this chamber only, the colour of the windows failed to correspond with the decorations. The panes here were scarlet—a deep blood colour. Now in no one of the seven apartments was there any lamp or candelabrum, amid the profusion of golden ornaments that lay scattered to and fro or depended from the roof. There was no light of any kind emanating from lamp or candle within the suite of chambers. But in the corridors that followed the suite, there stood, opposite to each window, a heavy tripod, bearing a brazier of fire, that projected its rays through the tinted glass and so glaringly illumined the room. And thus were produced a multitude of gaudy and fantastic appearances. But in the western or black chamber the effect of the fire-light that streamed upon the dark hangings through the blood-tinted panes, was ghastly in the extreme, and produced so wild a look upon the countenances of those who entered, that there were few of the company bold enough to set foot within its precincts at all.

It was in this apartment, also, that there stood against the western wall, a gigantic clock of ebony. Its pendulum swung to and fro with a dull, heavy, monotonous clang; and when the minute-hand made the circuit of the face, and the hour was to be stricken, there came from the brazen lungs of the clock a sound which was clear and loud and deep and exceedingly musical, but of so peculiar a note and emphasis that, at each lapse of an hour, the musicians of the orchestra were constrained to pause, momentarily, in their performance, to harken to the sound; and thus the waltzers perforce ceased their evolutions; and there was a brief disconcert of the whole gay company; and, while the chimes of the clock yet rang, it was observed that the giddiest grew pale, and the more aged and sedate passed their hands over their brows as if in confused reverie or meditation. But when the echoes had fully ceased, a light laughter at once pervaded the assembly; the musicians looked at each other and smiled as if at their own nervousness and folly, and made whispering vows, each to the other, that the next chiming of the clock should produce in them no similar emotion; and then, after the lapse of sixty minutes, (which embrace three thousand and six hundred seconds of the Time that flies,) there came yet another chiming of the clock, and then were the same disconcert and tremulousness and meditation as before.

But, in spite of these things, it was a gay and magnificent revel. The tastes of the duke were peculiar. He had a fine eye for colours and effects. He disregarded the decora of mere fashion. His plans were bold and fiery, and his conceptions glowed with barbaric lustre. There are some who would have thought him mad. His followers felt that he was not. It was necessary to hear and see and touch him to be sure that he was not.

He had directed, in great part, the movable embellishments of the seven chambers, upon occasion of this great fête; and it was his own guiding taste which had given character to the masqueraders. Be sure they were grotesque. There were much glare and glitter and piquancy and phantasm—much of what has been since seen in “Hernani”. There were arabesque figures with unsuited limbs and appointments. There were delirious fancies such as the madman fashions. There were much of the beautiful, much of the wanton, much of the bizarre, something of the terrible, and not a little of that which might have excited disgust. To and fro in the seven chambers there stalked, in fact, a multitude of dreams. And these—the dreams—writhed in and about taking hue from the rooms, and causing the wild music of the orchestra to seem as the echo of their steps. And, anon, there strikes the ebony clock which stands in the hall of the velvet. And then, for a moment, all is still, and all is silent save the voice of the clock. The dreams are stiff-frozen as they stand. But the echoes of the chime die away—they have endured but an instant—and a light, half-subdued laughter floats after them as they depart. And now again the music swells, and the dreams live, and writhe to and fro more merrily than ever, taking hue from the many tinted windows through which stream the rays from the tripods. But to the chamber which lies most westwardly of the seven, there are now none of the maskers who venture; for the night is waning away; and there flows a ruddier light through the blood-coloured panes; and the blackness of the sable drapery appals; and to him whose foot falls upon the sable carpet, there comes from the near clock of ebony a muffled peal more solemnly emphatic than any which reaches their ears who indulged in the more remote gaieties of the other apartments.

But these other apartments were densely crowded, and in them beat feverishly the heart of life. And the revel went whirlingly on, until at length there commenced the sounding of midnight upon the clock. And then the music ceased, as I have told; and the evolutions of the waltzers were quieted; and there was an uneasy cessation of all things as before. But now there were twelve strokes to be sounded by the bell of the clock; and thus it happened, perhaps, that more of thought crept, with more of time, into the meditations of the thoughtful among those who revelled. And thus too, it happened, perhaps, that before the last echoes of the last chime had utterly sunk into silence, there were many individuals in the crowd who had found leisure to become aware of the presence of a masked figure which had arrested the attention of no single individual before. And the rumour of this new presence having spread itself whisperingly around, there arose at length from the whole company a buzz, or murmur, expressive of disapprobation and surprise—then, finally, of terror, of horror, and of disgust.

In an assembly of phantasms such as I have painted, it may well be supposed that no ordinary appearance could have excited such sensation. In truth the masquerade licence of the night was nearly unlimited; but the figure in question had out-Heroded Herod, and gone beyond the bounds of even the prince’s indefinite decorum. There are chords in the hearts of the most reckless which cannot be touched without emotion. Even with the utterly lost, to whom life and death are equally jests, there are matters of which no jest can be made. The whole company, indeed, seemed now deeply to feel that in the costume and bearing of the stranger neither wit nor propriety existed. The figure was tall and gaunt, and shrouded from head to foot in the habiliments of the grave. The mask which concealed the visage was made so nearly to resemble the countenance of a stiffened corpse that the closest scrutiny must have had difficulty in detecting the cheat. And yet all this might have been endured, if not approved, by the mad revellers around. But the mummer had gone so far as to assume the type of the Red Death. His vesture was dabbled in blood—and his broad brow, with all the features of the face, was besprinkled with the scarlet horror.

When the eyes of the Prince Prospero fell upon this spectral image (which, with a slow and solemn movement, as if more fully to sustain its role, stalked to and fro among the waltzers) he was seen to be convulsed, in the first moment with a strong shudder either of terror or distaste; but, in the next, his brow reddened with rage.

“Who dares,”—he demanded hoarsely of the courtiers who stood near him—“who dares insult us with this blasphemous mockery? Seize him and unmask him—that we may know whom we have to hang, at sunrise, from the battlements!”

It was in the eastern or blue chamber in which stood the Prince Prospero as he uttered these words. They rang throughout the seven rooms loudly and clearly, for the prince was a bold and robust man, and the music had become hushed at the waving of his hand.

It was in the blue room where stood the prince, with a group of pale courtiers by his side. At first, as he spoke, there was a slight rushing movement of this group in the direction of the intruder, who at the moment was also near at hand, and now, with deliberate and stately step, made closer approach to the speaker. But from a certain nameless awe with which the mad assumptions of the mummer had inspired the whole party, there were found none who put forth hand to seize him; so that, unimpeded, he passed within a yard of the prince’s person; and, while the vast assembly, as if with one impulse, shrank from the centres of the rooms to the walls, he made his way uninterruptedly, but with the same solemn and measured step which had distinguished him from the first, through the blue chamber to the purple—through the purple to the green—through the green to the orange—through this again to the white—and even thence to the violet, ere a decided movement had been made to arrest him. It was then, however, that the Prince Prospero, maddening with rage and the shame of his own momentary cowardice, rushed hurriedly through the six chambers, while none followed him on account of a deadly terror that had seized upon all. He bore aloft a drawn dagger, and had approached, in rapid impetuosity, to within three or four feet of the retreating figure, when the latter, having attained the extremity of the velvet apartment, turned suddenly and confronted his pursuer. There was a sharp cry—and the dagger dropped gleaming upon the sable carpet, upon which, instantly afterwards, fell prostrate in death the Prince Prospero. Then, summoning the wild courage of despair, a throng of the revellers at once threw themselves into the black apartment, and, seizing the mummer, whose tall figure stood erect and motionless within the shadow of the ebony clock, gasped in unutterable horror at finding the grave cerements and corpse-like mask, which they handled with so violent a rudeness, untenanted by any tangible form.

And now was acknowledged the presence of the Red Death. He had come like a thief in the night. And one by one dropped the revellers in the blood-bedewed halls of their revel, and died each in the despairing posture of his fall. And the life of the ebony clock went out with that of the last of the gay. And the flames of the tripods expired. And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all.

In this year of ALL years, God knows we need both reassurance and cheering up!!

An organisation I am proud to belong to – and when you belong to the RNA – you REALLY belong!!
#RNA60

“In honour of the RNAs 60th anniversary year, we put together a special series of blog posts on various aspects of writing romance. They featured advice and comments from some of our bestselling author members, who all have a wealth of experience and expertise. We hope you have enjoyed these posts, and that they have been informative and interesting to both new and seasoned writers. We would like to say a huge and very heartfelt THANK YOU TO ALL THE AUTHORS WHO TOOK PART! We couldn’t have done it without you and really appreciate you taking the time to share your views.

We asked the authors one final question – as we approach the end of our 60^th year, please could you tell us what it means to you to be a member of an organisation like the RNA and how it has helped you?

Katie Fforde – “Being part of the RNA is vital to my well-being as a writer. They are supportive friends, they are writers I root for, and every success from a member is a joy for me. No one can have that fabulous ‘first time published’ feeling twice, but through the RNA you can share in the celebration and feel proud. And I do!”

Jill Mansell – “I love the RNA, it’s brilliant – supportive, inclusive and incredibly welcoming. We writers do a funny old job and it’s lovely to be part of an incredible group of people who understand the various trials and tribulations that go along with it. I’m so proud to be a member.”

Sophie Kinsella – “I’m delighted to be a member of the RNA, whose members bring so much pleasure to so many readers. Love is universal and timeless, and we should celebrate books that delve into its difficulties and delights.”

This book is dedicated to the Romantic Novelists’ Association which celebrates its Diamond Jubilee in 2020. I’m proud to belong to such a welcoming, supportive and friendly organisation. Here’s to all members past, present and future, and to the next sixty years of romantic fiction. Love is love!

Dilly Court – “I joined the RNA New Writers’ Scheme when I was starting out writing, it must be nearly 20 years ago. I had to work very hard to study the craft and I wrote at least 12 novels while I was finding my “voice” as an author. I found their critiques invaluable and eventually I hit upon the right genre for me.”

Barbara Erskine – “I know most people adore it. I have to confess I’m not really a clubbable person – but, that being said, it is lovely to meet up from time to time with like minds and I really enjoy the chance to exchange views then.”

Elaine Everest – “I wouldn’t be a Sunday Times Bestselling author if it weren’t for the RNA. Even though I’d earned my living as a freelance writer since 1997 I had never been published as a novelist. I joined the New Writers’ Scheme and graduated in the same year as our current Chairperson. I joined the committee running the RNA blog, social media and set up the RNA Facebook group – and then met my agent. I couldn’t function without the friendship and all-embracing hug that is the RNA.”

The the Romantic Novelists’ Association – without whom I would not be a published author – Happy 60th Anniversary!

Liz Fielding – “I joined the RNA the year my first book was published. The support, the friendship, the shared information through nearly thirty years has been a real joy and my only regret is that I didn’t join the NWS. If I had I might have been published years earlier!”

Milly Johnson – “I didn’t want to join the RNA until I was a published writer and what a clot I was. I missed out on so much support that I could have had before, lots of advice and friendship.  But hey-ho – I became a member and found post-publication a wonderful group of mates, inspiration and acceptance – because writers are an odd breed and no one really ‘gets’ us like we do. It’s brought me a lot of fun (and probably rotted my liver) but also very useful connections and a whole host of people willing to support any book deals I have out there – as I support them, and that benefits the whole industry because we all sell more books and keep the industry alive. Writers need to connect because we are often on the other side of the fence to publishers and agents and we need to compare notes because it’s a lonely business, confusing at times, very short on information and so we learn from each other and help where we can. As others have helped me.”

Rosanna Ley – “It’s great to be a member of the RNA which is a vibrant and inclusive organisation extremely dedicated to helping new writers. Romance is a genre that can be rather looked down on and the RNA continues to work hard at changing this attitude and giving romance the status it deserves. We all need a bit of romance in our lives and as romance writers it’s our wonderful job to help provide it …”

For the Romantic Novelists’ Association in its Diamond Anniversary year. I’ve been a member of this amazing organisation for two of its six decades, during which it has given me: a ‘can do’ attitude, massive support, industry knowledge, career opportunities, and an army of fantastic friends.

Sarah Morgan – “Life as a writer can sometimes feel isolated. A professional organisation like the RNA can be a source of information, support and friendship. I’m also grateful for the advocacy, and the opportunities created to connect with a wide range of industry professionals.”

Sheila O’Flanagan – “It’s important, particularly for women, to be part of an organisation that promotes and recognises the value of the work that they do, and the RNA is hugely supportive of its members.”

Kate Walker – “I’ve forgotten exactly when I joined the RNA but I’ve been a member for years. I have gained so much from being in the Association – learned so much about the world of publishing, met so many wonderful people and discovered so many fabulous books that I might never have read if they hadn’t come through the Romantic Novel of the Year awards. But most of all I have made so many fantastic friends, published or unpublished, all of whom love this form of fiction writing and publishing, who can talk books for hours and whose company has enriched my life. It’s true that a writer’s life can be very lonely and isolated. But RNA meetings and Conferences bring me together with people who understand what this writing life is all about – show me that I’m not on my own – that everyone comes up against rejection or writers block or difficult revisions. As I’ve so often heard  people say – and it’s definitely true for me too – when you  met up with your own ’tribe’ you feel  that you belong and you want to stay right there.”

Hear, hear!

It only remains for us to wish you a very happy and healthy new year and hope that 2021 will be kinder to us all so that we can meet up in person once again – we can’t wait!

Best wishes from the RNA 60^th Blog Team

Pia, Karen and Christina”

Kath McGurl produced this article for HQ Stories. Its practically “Dual Timeline for Dummies!” Definitely worthy of a wider readership especially if you are planning a timeslip / dual timeline.

Kudos to her!

https://www.hqstories.co.uk/2020/11/11/kathleen-mcgurl-dual-timeline/?fbclid=IwAR1AVutLR91XkTOPnpowiIUmWt8PzuZ9i63VhsA3S-nNuJ1s1_jaNr0BVpU

I was delighted to be interviewed by Clare for her website!!

Read and enjoy! (I did).

https://clareflynn.co.uk/blog/interview-with-john-jackson-2

The wave of authors coming forward for Children in Read has been fantastic! Well done to all of you, whether you are friends, fellow RNA members, PYA members or just Twitter or Facebook friends -a big thank you, and well done.

The Auction site goes live on September 1^st, and Children in Need Day this year is November 13^th. Books are accepted right up to the last few days before the 13^th.

Apart from soliciting books and donating our own, what happens then? What else needs to e done?

In a word – Publicity!

When it comes to bidding to buy books, we have an advantage – as a lot donor it is very easy to check over all of the other lots and decide whose book we might like to bid on, but we aren’t the main target.

The main target is  “the reading public”.

As authors, we know how hard it is to make contact with readers. Other writers and book bloggers form the largest part of our social media circle of friends, or so it seems. Actually making contact with READERS – i.e. book buyers, is an impenetrable secret.

So a few ideas for publicising the auction.

Goodreads.  As authors I’m sure we’ve all found its just not possible to “monetize” Goodreads. However, I think I’ve found a way of making some decent contacts.

I’ve set up a Goodreads Event for the Auction, with the basic details in, and the start and finish for it. I did something similar for my book launch in Oct 2017. That event allowed me to invite 250 people. This time I was able to invite over 1800 people!

https://www.goodreads.com/event/show/1072213-children-in-read-charity-auction

I expanded my Goodreads list of friends by inviting all my Twitter followers.  You can find friends from Twitter, Facebook and Gmail. They all add up!

I went through all my Goodreads friends and sent invites to the event to all those with a UK address. Goodreads shows your friends country-of-residence. Also, rather than just Clicking “Invite” I used the handy box to include a Message.

“Its the annual Children n Read book auction for Children on Need.

For writers, A great cause, and a GREAT chance of exposure in a premier event! All is costs you is 1 book and UK postage for it.

For readers, you are contributing to one of the best-loved charities in the UK., and you are bidding for a unique item – a book specially signed and dedicated to you by an author you have chosen.”

Goodreads is a VERY static site. Very few people check their Goodreads page (as a reader) more than once every few days. Authors may check it much more often, especially when they are expecting reviews. The Auction doesn’t start for 5 weeks, though and runs for 2.5 MONTHS – so there is lots of time for people to look at their pages, and Goodreads DOES HAVE READERS subscribed.

.

Radio. The best way of getting to people though it via airtime. The BBC has 40 local radio stations, and it should not be beyond the wit of man to talk to the stations and get an interview and mention the auction – after all, its for Children in Need, a BBC event!

I would suggest that any of us who have a radio interview on ANY station, for local book programmes, interviews for new releases, etc. should make a point of mentioning the Auction, ESPECIALLY if we have a book in it. Even if you haven’t put a book of your own in the auction, it would be great to mention it, and keep the momentum going by “spreading the word”.

Social Media.

Children in Read only operates on Twitter at the moment. That’s great, up to a point, but it misses out on the largest amount of Social Media users. Twitter has 400 million users; Facebook has 2400 million! Instagram has 1000 million!

I’m not for a moment suggesting that the campaign needs to go out and set up Facebook Pages or Instagram accounts immediately. That’s a subject for future years, BUT….

Many of US use the other Social Media platforms, including Pinterest, Linkedin, etc. There is nothing to stop ANY of us retweeting/ reposting / sharing onto our own Facebook pages, etc. In fact, the campaign NEEDS us to do just that!

No donating author wants to see their book “left on the shelf” either, so there’s another reason for publicising it.  The site doesn’t go live until September 1^st, and we’ve then got 2.5 months until Children in Need Day.

Hashtags

Don’t forget to use hashtags for EVERYTHING! You might not search for them, but the public does, especially the younger public.

I came up with these. Feel free to copy and paste. The first two on almost EVERY type of message, the whole lot if you are posting on Instagram or Pinterest.

#childreninread #childreninneed 

#bbcchildreninneed #charityauction #bookstagram #bookauction #author #authorsofinstagram #writingcommunity #books #charity #bbc 

The other hashtag to use, if you have room, is the name of your book, i.e. #heartofstone

Pinterest

Pinterest has as many users as Twitter! Many of us use it as a picture repository. Good for sharing, though.

I’ve set up a Children in Read Board, and I’ll update it as necessary. All the pics have live links and hashtags.

Feel free to copy, use, share in any way you wish! Copy or share to your OWN Pinterest page.

As I write, we are up to 250 Authors, and they are STILL coming in!

Remember, too, that the site isn’t live until September 1st, so its only gentle publicity until then. We don’t want to have people wanting to bid before the site is open!

Your thoughts on publicity would be most welcome!

But – Fantastic so far!