September started off with pleasant news yesterday: Mistress of Legend was awarded the silver medal in the mythology category of the Reader’s Favorite Awards. As usual, I totally forgot I entered so that was a surprise to me! So thrilled that people are liking this book, even when it is read alone.
Tag Archives: Mistress of Legend
Surprise! Mistress of Legend Named Book of the Year by Author’s Circle
Wow, I got the shock of my life last night when I logged in to Facebook to see that I was tagged by Author’s Circle. I had entered their contest, so I was hoping for good news, but I certainly didn’t expect to see that Mistress of Legend was named Book of the Year!
This means that all three books in the Guinevere’s Tale Trilogy have received Book of the Year Awards: Daughter of Destiny from Chanticleer Reviews (2015) and Camelot’s Queen (2016) and Mistress of Legend (2018) from Author’s Circle. Author’s Circle also named The Once ad Future Queen: Guinevere in Arthurian Legend as their Non-Fiction Book of the Year in 2017.
This is my fourth Book of the Year award. When I received the first one I was absolutely shocked. The second I thought was a fluke. The third was just unbelievable. But four? That’s like beyond mind-blowing.
Mistress of Legend Takes Silver in the Foreword Indie Book Awards
Well, I came home to a wonderful surprise in my mailbox tonight: a certificate telling me Mistress of Legend won Silver in the Fantasy category of the Foreword Indie Book Awards. I didn’t even know they had held them already!
I am so glad because I am so proud of that book. I feel like it is the strongest in the series, yet I know it is difficult for judges to judge the final book in a trilogy when they haven’t read the first two. But the fact that this one won tells me I did my job in making the story make sense on its own.
Mistress of Legend Finals in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards
I am weeks behind on announcing this, but Mistress of Legend was a finalist in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards in the fantasy category. These awards give out one gold medal to a category winner and 5-6 silver to the finalists. I may not have gotten gold this time, but I’m proud to have the silver!
Mistress of Legend Wins a Chaucer Award
Just a quick note that Mistress of Legend has won its first award! It took home first in category in the Chaucer Awards for historical fiction at the Chanticleer Book Awards, the same award Madame Presidentess won in 2016.
They say we should have our official winner’s seal by the end of the month, so for now I’m using the contest image.
Not an April Fools Joke: The Once and Future Queen Wins the Sarton Women’s Book Prize in Non-Fiction
I’m so happy to announce that The Once and Future Queen: Guinevere in Arthurian Legend has won the Sarton Women’s Book Prize in the non-fiction category! Here’s the official press release.
This award has been two years in the making since I just barely missed the deadline for entries to last year’s awards. But it was worth the wait.
I have spoken with two of the Story Circle awards coordinators and what really got me was how much they appreciated the research that went into this book. Finally, someone understood why I wrote it. So many people seem to think the book was somehow done incorrectly because I don’t posit a lot of new information or advance a groundbreaking theory. That was never the point; the point was to gather into one volume what others have said about Guinevere and show how that fits the idea of Guinevere changing as a character as society’s views of women changed over time.
I have to say that knowing that someone understands it gives me a lot more confidence going into speaking about Guinevere at the Symposium on Medieval and Renaissance Studies in June! As part of being a winner, I will also have the opportunity to present at the Story Circle conference next year. I’m seriously thinking about it.
PS – I also found out yesterday that Mistress of Legend is a finalist in the fantasy category of the Foreword Indies. Winners will be announced in June.
Updates: Awards, Sales and 2019 Speaking Events
One of the ads I will be running December 16-26.
A quick update before we start with a series of blog posts on Christmas traditions tomorrow:
Awards
Mistress of Legend is a semi-finalist in the Chaucer Awards for historical fiction pre-1700. We will find out the final results in April.
There is another award I know about, but can’t announce yet…
Sales
Madame Presidentess got an international BookBub ad for December 21 to celebrate its film option, so it will be on sale all over the world December 17-26 for only $0.99 in ebook. (Don’t forget that it is available in audio and print as well!)
2019 Events
2019 is shaping up to be a busy year. Here is my schedule so far:
Book Signing with Missouri Romance Writers of America
February 9, 7 p.m.
The Novel Neighbor
7905 Big Bend Blvd.
Webster Groves, MO 63119
Presentation: Victoria Woodhull: Forgotten by History
Monday, March 4, 7 p.m.
Eureka Hills Branch Library
156 Eureka Towne Ctr
Eureka, MO 63025
IBPA Publishing University
April 4-6
Chicago, Illinois
Historical Novel Society Conference
June 20-22
National Harbor, Maryland
Nicole will be presenting three times during the Reader’s Festival on June 22:
- 1:15-2:15 p.m. – Dynamic Duos: Husbands and Wives Who Worked Together During the Women’s Suffrage Movement (presenting with Hope Tarr)
- Time TBA – THE TIMES THEY ARE A CHANGIN’: Historical Fiction Joins the Protest March (pannel with Glen Craney, Diane McPhail, and Charles Degelman)
- Time TBA – GASLAMPS, GHOSTS, AND TROPES: Writing the Neo-Gothic Novel (panel with Kris Waldherr, Leanna Renee Hieber and Hester Fox)
Novelists Inc. Conference
September 25-29
Tradewinds Resort
St. Petersburg, FL
Glowing 5-Star Review of Mistress of Legend from Reader’s Favorite
I just had to share this review of Mistress of Legend from Reader’s Favorite. This reader gets it! I’m not even sure which part to pull out for an endorsement. (What a problem to have!)
Mistress of Legend is the third book in the Guinevere’s Tale series, an interesting recreation of the legendary world of Camelot with its feisty characters and intriguing relationships. Nicole Evelina reinvents the character of Guinevere and starts readers on an adventure with her as she returns to Camelot, a world splintered by political factions. Having escaped death at the stake, her options are limited, and while she wants nothing more than to be with Lancelot, she is embroiled in the turmoil in Camelot where Mordred is thirsty for power and the people are longing for her leadership as the former queen. Follow her on an odyssey that brings her back to Lancelot and how her people rely on her to save them from the warring Votadini. But does she still have the fight in her, the wisdom of the queen she once was?
For fans of the legendary tales of King Arthur, Mistress of Legend comes along as a sumptuous, delectable treat, a tale written in gorgeous prose and featuring characters that are richly developed, with multiple levels of conflict and an enticing romance. Nicole Evelina’s writing is daring, a work of great imagination, and I was enticed by the world she recreates in this story. The absorbing first person voice catches the attention of the reader as the protagonist opens the tale with Arthur’s men finding her and Lancelot in the woods and bringing them to Camelot. But this strength in the voice doesn’t ebb as the narrative progresses; on the contrary, it deepens, unveiling layers of emotions and the intensity of the conflict, keeping readers focused and interested. This is a book that fans of legendary tales will be delighted to read, an enchanting world to navigate.
Y Gododdin, the Votadini and Arthurian Legend, an Article at Medievalists.net
In the midst of all the anthology announcements yesterday, I forgot to mention I have an article up at Medievalists.net. Please enjoy “Y Gododdin, the Votadini and Arthurian Legend.”