Four Questions for Amalphia Treadwell : Question the First

Hello wee readers, I hope you’re having a very happy holiday season. I know I am, because the final book of Ailish Sinclair’s Dancer Series, Fouetté, is out today. I knew I wanted to do something to celebrate that but I was slightly stumped as to what. If you will recall for the first book in her Dancer Series, Tendu, I released 8 1/2 Overly pretentious Questions for Ailish Sinclair. For her second book, the highly saucy Cabriole, I did the short blog series Ailish Sinclair’s Top Favourite Ballet Dancers of all time. But the question remained, what would I do for the new book?

I was pondering this exact question while speed reading through my brand new copy of Fouetté, and then very interesting thought occurred to me. In my previous blogs and or blog series I’ve always asked Ailish the questions, we’ll, obviously she’s the writer she would know. But wouldn’t it be interesting to ask the characters; now I’m not insane I know they’re not real people.

That’s why I’ve built my very own dimension jumping machine. I’ll just hop on in, pop on over to Amalphia Tredwell’s place of residence and ask her a question or two, I’m thinking four. And since the machine can also jump through time I’ll ask each question in four different stages of her life. What? Why are you looking at me like that, I’m not insane. I have a note from my doctor, even saying as much. Best not ask why I needed it in the first place.

Question 1 -For Tendu Amalphia.

Don’t scream, I’m from the local newspaper; your roommate let me in. I’m here to ask you a few questions. Cool? Cool.

Amalphia: No, not cool, actually.

(Several standered stock Questions later)

So, latest gossip has you linked to Aleksandr Zolotov, would you care to comment on that? What would you describe as the nature of your relationship?

Amalphia: What? How do you know about that? Nobody’s supposed to know about that. Not that there’s anything to know. And don’t go believing all that rubbish about Aleks on the internet. He’s a good man. You know… an amazing teacher. That’s how I know him, and that’s what our relationship is. But I’m going to have to ask you to leave now. You shouldn’t be in here anyway.

Amalphia closes the door over the Wee Lassie, but the following is overheard:

Amalphia: Justin, did you let that person in?”

Justin: Yes, Phi, I did. You’ll need to get used to being hounded by the press. We all know you’re going to be a star, darling…”

If you’ve enjoyed this small glimpse into the mind of Amalphia Treadwell why not check out her author, Ailish Sinclair’s blog here, along with her Twitter, Instagram, Mastodon, Threads, Pinterest, Tumblr, TikTok, Goodreads, Facebook , YouTube, and Kofi. If you’ve enjoyed this very mildly pretentious question of mine, follow the wee blog if you haven’t already, and don’t forget to check me out on Twitter, Instagram, Mastodon, Threads, Pinterest, Tumblr, TikTok, Goodreads, YouTube, Facebook and Kofi.

Check out Fouetté on Amazon today.

Also, if you’d like to start from the beginning check out Tendu – which is made free for Christmas – on Amazon.

The Wee Archive: An Interview with Ailish Sinclair

A Frustrating Interview with Ailish Sinclair

At the end of my original post – read here if you’re interested – I realised that Ailish Sinclair had stepped into the witch’s stone, using it to travel through time to research her historical romances. I concluded that this was cheating and then ran away screaming for all my life was worth – I didn’t reveal that last part but that’s what happened.
Of course, you can’t publish books if you’re traveling through the eras they’re set in, at least not by your real name – so of course Ailish did not stay away long. She has denied that she is a mermaid, and that she has a pet bear in her own blog here. But notice that she does not deny the time travel accusation.
This filled me with new hope, so determined to prove that I was neither crazy nor stalking her, I decided to conduct an interview with the time traveling author. Below are the four questions she agreed to answer on the subject.

4. Now that you have returned from your adventures in time, what have you most enjoyed about being back in the 21^stcentury?

Writing historical fiction certainly is rather like adventuring through time, you’re right. I love the periods my characters inhabit, but chocolate cake and flushing toilets are great bonuses of the modern world.

3.When did you first realize that you could travel through time using the Witch Stone?

Emm… I do contemplate my writing as I walk in the woods and sit by the stone. I’ve been doing that for over ten years.

2. What Era have you most enjoyed travelling through?

It’s quite hard to pick one. I loved the medieval world and the 18^th century, but 1^st century Scotland is my current favorite, maybe just because it’s the most recent time that I’ve written, or as you say, travelled through. There’s a natural wildness to it that I love. I may have to go back there again… in writing, you understand.

1.Now that you’re back, what can we expect next from Ailish Sinclair.

My feet are firmly back in the current day now as I edit a series of three very naughty and dark contemporary romance novels. There’s no research needed to know what people might be eating or wearing, but there are other *blushes* tricky and intricate scenes to work through.

That’s is all very well, but I know what I saw…

Ailish Sinclair refused to answer anymore of my questions on the grounds that they were becoming “ridiculous” and or “insane”.

If you’ve enjoyed this Wee interview of mine why not check out the original blogif you haven’t already, and don’t forget to follow me on Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Facebook, Goodreads and TikTok. And if you’ve enjoyed Ailish’s much pained answers why not check out her blog and give it a wee follow. Also check her out on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, Goodreads , LinkedIn , Facebook ,Kofi, and TikTok as well. Why not subscribe to her newsletter while you’re at it. And remember, Ailish Sinclair’s latest book ‘Sister’s at the Edge of the World‘ is available now on Amazon . Until next time Wee Subscribers, keep safe, stay positive and have a very Bonny day.

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.

The Wee Archive: The First Entry

What Ho Wee Readers, and welcome to my new blog series I like to call – The Wee Archive, mainly because it seemed like the most suitable name I could choose. Intended to go between longer, more involved posts that often take a very long time for me to write – the series will be a recollection of the varies different newsletters of The Wee Mailing List. Beginning with my very first newsletter “Pictures from the Wee Archive: A Scottish Fairy Tale”. While of course I encourage you all to sign up for said Mailing List to receive new and exciting content as regularly as I can churn it out – I always found it a little sad that unlike a blog post which can in theory stay up forever, for anyone to see, once a Mailing List is sent out that’s it really. It can be found in a subscriber’s inbox, or my MailChimp account but no where else, and while I admit that is probably the entire point of a Mailing List, I can’t help finding it sad.

And when you mix that sadness with an urgent need to create more content and not have your Wee Readers waiting months for the next blog post, you get The Wee Archive…enjoy.

Pictures from the Wee Archive : A Scottish Fairy Tale

What Ho, Wee Subscribers – welcome to the Wee Mailing List. As we are all in Lockdown up here in the North of Scotland, and thus unable to take new photos of all our wonderful sights and historic buildings, I thought I’d dig into the Wee Archives to show you some pics that just didn’t quite make the cut for the original blog.

Ah Scotland, home of only the pinkest of castles

Of course not all of Scotland’s castles are pink – I mean can you imagine?

No, this isn’t a land of fairy tales – we don’t all live in castles or fairy cottages.

We mostly just live in regular old houses…

And watch the wildlife outside our windows.

If you’ve enjoyed this brief look into the magical world of the Wee Archives – then remember to check out The Wee Writing Lassie Blog, and follow it if you haven’t already. Also don’t forget to check me out on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram and Goodreads – where I’m 38% complete in my reading challenge. Until next time my Wee Subscribers, from up here in the Land of the Unicorn, stay safe and have a bonny day.

And here in the present, have a very bonny day from a very tired Wee Writing Lassie – and remember to follow the Wee blog if you haven’t already and check me out on TikTok as well.