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Note: All this week, Simon Rose is our guest blogger for the National Writing for Children Center.

by children’s author Simon Rose

Just as The Sorcerer’s Letterbox involved research into the medieval period and specifically into the mysterious disappearance of Edward V and his younger brother, in writing The Heretic’s Tomb, I studied the subject of the Black Death, which is estimated to have killed over twenty five million people in Europe in the mid fourteenth century.

In The Heretic’s Tomb, Lady Isabella Devereaux comes into the possession of a mysterious amulet that has the power to restore life to the recently deceased. Living at the time of the Black Death in 1349, the noble and virtuous Lady Isabella intends to use the mysterious artifact to cure the relentless disease. However, the villain of the piece, Sir Roger de Walsingham, is also determined to secure the amulet for himself, in order to raise an army of the dead in order to seize the kingdom and make himself King of England. In the present day, while exploring a medieval archaeological site containing the ruins of an ancient English abbey, Annie discovers the amulet in the long-forgotten tomb of Lady Isabella and is suddenly sent hurtling back to the Middle Ages in a thrilling time travel tale.

The Heretic’s Tomb involved considerable research into the world of fourteenth century England, especially the era of the Black Death and its impact on England and Europe. Some dialogue in spoken in Middle English, which had to be authentic. The story also features a spell book written in Latin, so it was very important to get all the words and phrases correct. I also read extensively on the harsh realities of medical treatments in the Middle Ages. I delved deeply into the world of the medieval church, monasteries, abbeys, the long reign of King Edward III, the Hundred Years War between England and France, the history of scrolls, manuscripts and printed books, medieval cities, villages, houses and castles, as well as archaeological excavation sites for the portions of the novel set in the present day. Some of the information I needed was readily available online, but books also played a large in the research process.

My website has a page devoted to The Heretic’s Tomb, including the historical background of the novel.

Stop by every day this week because children’s author Simon Rose will be our guest blogger here at the NFWCC starting tomorrow, today, Monday, June 30th through Friday, July 4th.

Simon Rose is the author of The Heretic’s Tomb, The Emerald Curse, The Clone Conspiracy, The Sorcerer’s Letterbox and The Alchemist’s Portrait.

Visit his website at www.simon-rose.com, where you’ll find book descriptions, author profiles, interviews, audio files of readings, book reviews, teacher and reader comments and more. Rose offers a wide variety of presentations, workshops and author in residence programs for schools and libraries, writing services for both adult and young writers and is also available for summer camps and children’s parties. He has a variety of creative services designed for writers, including editing, critiquing and manuscript evaluation. For the business community, Simon Rose offers freelance writing services, including website content and copywriting.

Sitting by the phone waiting for a call when I would much rather be writing. Oh well. You can tell that the Writer's Strike is coming to an end: film companies are starting to stir and make deep booming whale-like noises from the depths, to remind the writers that they are still there and that soon enough, they will be coming for us...

This is my favourite song right now. At least, it's my very favourite song about punctuation...

http://www.fabulist.org/mp3/02%20Oxford%20Comma.mp3

(And here's the last fm entry)

http://www.last.fm/music/Vampire+Weekend/_/Oxford+Comma

And here's a Youtube video of them performing it live...