The Wee Archive: Ailish Sinclair and the Eighth Question

What Ho Wee Readers, and welcome back to another installment of The Wee Archive. If you cast your mind over my past blog posts you’ll know that I’ve done three posts about my good friend, and fellow author Ailish Sinclair. Unfortunately only two of those posts had a Mailing List attached to them, which is a bit of a shame but what can you do? Anyway, the one you are about to read is a Mailing List Post Connected to my post “7 Intrusive Questions for Ailish Sinclair“. Enjoy.

The Eighth Question

What Ho Wee Subscribers, and welcome to the eighth intrusive question for Ailish Sinclair. Now if you’ve been following my blog closely you may already be acquainted with the first seven intrusive questions I asked my good friend Ailish Sinclair – if not, check it out here, it’s good fun for all involved.
Read it, and subsequently were inspired to go buy her new book ‘Fireflies and Chocolate’ for sale at both American and British Amazons, as well as Waterstones? Excellent, now we can move on to the mystery of the eighth question. Why was it not put up with the rest of the questions on the original post? What is it about this intrusive question that made it unable, or indeed unsuitable to be published on an online blog? Is it rude, have I crossed the threshold from intrusive to indecent?
No, no I have not, but admit it for once brief second you thought I had – which means the mystery of the eighth question has got you in its claws. So, now’s the time, onto the eighth question, and I should warn you Wee Subscribers there will be spoilers ahead.

8. So Ailish, one last question and then I’ll let you go (Ha!) – during the course of the book Elizabeth meets with many real historical people. So, in your opinion, what would you say were the three real historical people (that we haven’t discussed yet), that had the most impact on your character’s story? Perhaps they influenced her the most, maybe they caused her to have a revelation or were involved in a traumatic event; in other words, what were the three historical persons that had the most impact on ‘Fireflies and Chocolate’ and why?

Benjamin Franklin, Founding Father and the most famous of the real characters in the book, provides the chocolate of the title from his printing shop in Philadelphia. He also asks pertinent questions of Elizabeth at times which make both her and the reader think more deeply about certain issues and, perhaps, draw new conclusions about everything that is going on.

Benjamin Lay (Benjamin being a popular name at the time!), an anti-slavery campaigner, introduces Elizabeth to new ideas about how people live and how they treat other living beings. He lives in a cottage that resembles a cave and our wee lassie (not you Wee Writing Lassie) is lucky enough to spend a night there.

A young girl was found dead in First Mate Alexander Young’s bunk during the voyage from Aberdeen to America. History has not recorded her name so I called her Maggie, and her death has a deep impact on Elizabeth in several ways. It causes her terrible grief, informs her opinions of what ‘fine gentlemen’ can actually be and provides a specific awareness of how much danger she and other women and girls are in at times.

Wow, awesome. Oh, don’t worry this isn’t going on the blog – I’m going to put it in my newsletter. This cake is so good, can I take it home with me? Yeah, I mean the whole cake, I’ve got a bag for it.

Sighs Go for it Wee Lassie.

If you’ve enjoyed the eighth intrusive question for Ailish Sinclair don’t forget to check out the original post, and the follow mine and Ailish’s wee blogs if you haven’t already. Also check me out on Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, Goodreads and why not donate to my Ko-fi account. And if you were interested in Ailish’s reply don’t forget to check her out on Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, Ko-fi and Goodreads as well. Until next time Wee subscribers, stay safe, stay aware, and have a very bonny day. Oh, and just to remind you again. Ailish Sinclair’s new book ‘Fireflies and Chocolate’ as well as her previous book ‘The Mermaid and the Bear’ are both available at Amazon (both British and American) and Waterstones (both in store and online); so seriously check that out, you won’t regret it.

Ailish is currently working on a contemporary series of erotic romance books, set in the diabolical world of professional ballet. Why not pop over to her blog to find out more about it. And if you’re interested in seeing more work like this why not sign up to the Wee Mailing List. Sign up by the 28th of April, and you’ll find out exactly what my next blog series will be about first. So until next time Wee Readers, keep safe and have a very Bonny day.