Interview and Guest Post with Marcie Kremer, author of TORCH IN THE FOREST

By: Meradeth Houston on 5:30 AM

I have a HUGE treat for you all today: Marcie Kremer, author of the delicious-sounding TORCH IN THE FOREST is joining us! Please say hi in the comments, and do check out her book!

Eighteen-year-old widow Eleanor of Strathcombe is stunned to realize she has a powerful attraction to Hugh of Wykeham, the arrogant, neighboring lord returned from the Crusade, who not only asks for the hand of her younger sister in marriage – but feuds with her over the control of their forest boundaries, because poachers are running rampant. As she struggles to keep control of her forests and find the poachers, unsettling feelings confront her when she deals with Hugh, feelings she never felt in her brief, loveless marriage -- feelings she tries to fight, because she knows Hugh to be a cold, harsh man who may have murdered his faithless wife in revenge -- and who trusts no woman. When she finds herself in the midst of a net of intrigue and lies, how can she find the conspirators, save herself and her sister, and battle her feelings for Hugh?

TORCH IN THE FOREST is available here: Amazon and Barnes and Noble

(Q) Thanks for stopping by my blog! Let’s start with the basics: where are you from? Is there any place online you’d like to direct us to learn more about you?

Thank you for inviting me!  I’m originally from everywhere, including Europe, having moved many times, but now I live in California. You can find me at my blog, and on Facebook at and on Twitter as @MarcieKremer1. Of course, I’m on Goodreads and LibraryThing!  I’d like to encourage everyone to please stop by and leave a comment or “like” – it’s great to hear from readers!

(Q) I always love hearing about how the idea for a particular book came about. Please fill us in on how you got the idea for TORCH IN THE FOREST.

Actually, the blame for this book can be laid soundly at the feet of my dear husband. J I write in several other genres under another name, although I did write a YA romance years ago (ALOHA LOVE with Bantam’s Sweet Dreams series) and he knows I love reading romances and medieval history, so he suggested I combine the two and write my own medieval romance!  He’s getting a kick out of this, and our friends are having fun with the idea that we are Eleanor and Hugh.  Note: we’re so not!

(Q) Which authors have most influenced your own writing?

I love Georgette Heyer and Julia Quinn and Hilary Mantel.  Goodness, how I wish I’d written Mantel’s books!

(Q) What do you do for fun other than writing?

I love to read, of course, and cook, especially Italian cooking.  We enjoy traveling, and it’s fun to imagine the lives of the people who lived in the castles and palaces we visit, just like Eleanor and Hugh.

(Q) If you could describe your ideal writing spot, where would it be? What music would you listen to (if at all)? What treats would you have on hand?

My ideal writing spot is anywhere I have a pencil and a notebook.  There’s something about lined paper that just makes me want to write!  Once it’s time to stop the drafting and planning, then I head for my office and the laptop.  I’ve written in many different kinds of places – hotels, park benches, castles….once I’m in my head and watching my characters, it doesn’t matter where I am! I can’t listen to music when I write, because I need to be in the moment with my characters, watching what they’re doing.  I do love music for writing inspiration at other times, though, and for TORCH, I loved Purcell’s trumpet voluntaries.  No treats for me, either, when I’m writing – they would make the keyboard too sticky!

(Q) Plotter or pantser? Both? Neither?

I am a plotter first and a pantser second.  I need to know where I think my characters are going, and then, I have to let them do what they want to do.  With Eleanor and Hugh, it was a bit unnerving, because I had to really let go!  Blush!

(Q) Do you have any new projects that you are working on? Care to share? 

I am working on a YA contemporary romance right now and having a blast, even though it’s not even faintly medieval.

(Q) What kinds of marketing do you think are the most successful in terms of getting your name/book out there? (Curious minds are taking notes!)

I’ve read that word-of-mouth is very successful, and I have lots of friends who are passing the word, but I can always use more friends and willing volunteers!  I was thrilled that USA Today featured TORCH IN THE FOREST in their romance column here:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/happyeverafter/2013/02/18/historical-romance-new-releases-february/1928719/ and I hope that helped get the word out about Eleanor and Hugh. Goodreads and LibraryThing are also great for letting readers know about books.

(Q) How about an excerpt to tantalize the readers?

“There is no better paradise than having the sweetheart of one’s choice.”

- Le Roman de la Rose, 13^th c.

“Milady! Milady!” a voice called.

Startled, Eleanor dropped her embroidery in her lap. Her favorite servant, Agnes, face red and gasping for breath, burst through the doors into Eleanor’s bedchamber.

Eleanor smiled. “Yes, Agnes?” she asked, as the servant curtsied quickly.

“Oh, no! Where is it?” Agnes moaned, looking frantically through the basket she held over her arm.

Eleanor waited for Agnes to find whatever it was she was so anxious to find. Thank goodness no one else was in the room to see that she had—once again—allowed a servant to burst in unannounced. It wasn’t really quite proper. Of course, other people would look down on her for it. It was so hard, though, to try and remember everything that she should and shouldn’t do. So many rules! Just barely eighteen and a widow for two years, Eleanor had to keep reminding herself that she had to fulfill the role of who she was supposed to be, no matter how hard it sometimes was.

“I must have dropped it on the stairs!” Agnes moaned. “I must find it!” She curtsied again and fled through the doors. Eleanor could hear her exclamations echoing down the stairs. She picked up her embroidery off the floor, and she drifted back into her thoughts.

A role to fulfill? Well, she was Eleanor, Lady Strathcombe, widow of Edgar, Earl of Strathcombe, and mistress of her late husband’s lands, wasn’t she? She had an important position—at least, others certainly thought so—and she must behave accordingly.

But she certainly didn’t care about letting Agnes in unannounced. After all, ever since Eleanor had arrived at Strathcombe Castle four years ago as a nervous, scared bride of fourteen, Agnes had been steadfast and true to her, comforting her and calming her, especially after that first, and only, session in the bedchamber with Edgar—a session during which nothing had happened to change her from a maiden into a married woman. Eleanor shuddered, remembering her anguish at his humiliating treatment—treatment that she was sure real marriage and true love could have nothing to do with.

And now, for an added treat, a little bit from Marcie on the question I got to torture her with :)

What are my favorite aspects of TORCH IN THE FOREST’s historical time frame?  That’s a difficult question for me to answer, being a medieval history nut!  I love so many aspects of the middle ages, especially the 13^th century, in which Eleanor and Hugh live, that it’s hard to choose.

I love feasting scenes and details on the foods they cooked and ate and how they were served. One of my favorite books is FABULOUS FEASTS: MEDIEVAL COOKERY AND CEREMONY, by Madeleine Pelner Cosman.  I could lose myself in that book, regularly.  That’s why Eleanor and Hugh and their friends and enemies spend time in the Great Hall, feasting away, while whispering asides and weaving nets of intrigue and flirting with each other.  Another aspect I enjoy is the Law of the Forest and all the attendant plot lines, for example, how the law affected the average peasant, who was just trying to survive and who had to get a license to let his pigs forage for acorns in the lord’s forest or to collect firewood.  The social fabric was very hierarchical (think Downton Abbey on steroids!) and I always get a kick out of the many different ways in which those unwritten laws governed social interaction and how people tried to get around those same laws, if passion overruled their common sense, as happens in TORCH!

What was most taxing to write about was the assize, because, being a medieval history major, accuracy is so important to me.  I read transcripts of medieval assizes, which were a hoot to read, seriously, because of what people were distrained for – stealing pigs, getting with child out of wedlock, stealing firewood – and I took many notes on how they spoke to each other and what was really important to them.  It was fun to write the assize scene, but, at the same time, I felt a little like a puppeteer, trying to make sure all the characters didn’t get tangled up in each other with what they were testifying about.  Once the accuracy was settled, I had to let them do their own “thing,” which is why the scene turned out as it did, much to my surprise!

All in all, although people are much the same in our contemporary age as they were back in the middle ages, from reading many primary sources, I’ve come to believe that medieval people were a bit less sophisticated, a bit more prone to wear their hearts on their sleeves, and a bit more willing to let passion have its way, which also makes it fun to write about them!