*Today I’m pleased to have Allison Knight on the blog talking about her top ten research books!

When I started thinking about this blog. I considered talking about the top ten things I’ve learned over nearly thirty years in this business, or the top ten things that bug me the most. Making it more about me was also a choice, like my personal goals. After a lot of thought, I decided to make it about my top ten favorite research books and why. I prefer to write historical romance and words become very important, so most of my favorite books have to do with words.

My top favorite is a book called ‘Reverse Dictionary”. It’s a Readers Digest book, it’s illustrated and I love it because I can work backwards. For example, I don’t know much about horses, but with this book, I can look up the word horse and the dictionary details each part of the horse and what each part is called. Want to saddle a horse? There a start to finish with each part named. The same with a sailing ship, or different kinds of plant parts. Look up plant and you get a biology lesson. A neat book.

My second favorite is from Random House. It’s called ‘Word Menu’. Look up the sound and it lists all of the different kinds of sounds, buzz, burp, scream, hiss. Emotion? Walk? You get the idea.

Next would be an old Readers Digest book called ‘Use the Right Word’. With this book, I can look any word, let take the particular word greedy, and it gives me half a dozen different kinds of greed. Yes, I want the right word for my greedy land owners.

Number four would have to be my ‘Webster’s ninth Edition Dictionary’. This simple Dictionary not only give the word’s definition, but it dates the word. In other words, it gives the approximate time the word shows up in any recorded writing. As a historical author, I don’t want to use a word that didn’t exist say in the 14th century if I’m writing a Medieval tale.

My fifth research book is another Readers Digest book, this one is ‘The Family Word Finder’. I like it because each definition begins with a sentence using the word. It gives synonyms and antonyms and tells you what the word is, verb, adjective, adverb, etc.

My wide World Atlas is next because it not only give me maps, but information about weather, different crop regions, mineral deposits, age, important dates. Unfortunately, It’s a big book and rests of the top of the book shelve. It doesn’t fit on any of the shelves. It also requires the whole top of my desk when I open it up.

Roget’s Thesaurus is next. A thesaurus is must for the writer and Roget’s is considered the best.

Number eight is a trade paperback I’ve had since I started to write. The title is Writing Fiction, Nonfiction, and How to Publish by Pat Kubis and Bob Howland. It a basic how to, with things like plotting, dialogue, and style. Much of the publishing information is outdated, but the basics are still excellent and I still find myself referring  to it once in a while.

Because I write historicals and don’t know much except the basics of England’s history, I have a little book by Dorset Press, which gets a lot of use. It’s called “Atlas of British History” and is a book of maps detailing points of history over 2000 years. I love the map of the railroads. It dates the route and time it took to go from point a to point b, the same for important battles, canals,  for all of England and Scotland.

My last Book is another small volume that I use as a historical author writing about the British Isles.  This one is called “The Castle Explorer’s Guide.” It alphabetically  describes everything there is to know today about the castles of England, Scotland and Wales, including all of the different methods of construction, their locations, and the people who in worked in and around the castles. It also contains information about all know ruins, very important if you are writing about the medieval ages.

There you have my top ten research books, books I’d find hard, no make that impossible, to give up. I’d love to discover another fabulous book so let me know if you have one you can’t live without.

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| [amazon_link id=”B0064XIPIG” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Amazon[/amazon_link] |

Alwyn ab Brynn Ffrydd wants revenge against a powerful Baron without losing his king’s support. What better way to exact revenge than to kidnap the Baron’s long time mistress. But she is not what he thinks she is.

Shy, unworldly Milisent Mortimore has been confined for nine years by a brother who now demands she agree to wed a cruel, heartless man. Thanks to her father’s will, she has the right to chose her mate or her spouse will lose her inheritance.

When Alwyn kidnaps her desires flares and together they must struggle against the treachery of Alwyn’s current mistress, her brother and the man he wants her to marry.

In defying all three, Alwyn places his life at risk. Milisent saves him from certain death and together they celebrate their life of love.

EXCERPT:

Milisent’s breath caught as she stared at the sight before her. A chill shot through her. She gazed at the most magnificent warrior she had ever seen. The deep melodic voice carried a twinge of a strange tongue, but the  most arresting thing was not his voice. Nay, it was him. This man radiated strength and power, and although his face was grim his countenance was

most pleasant.

He had a blade of a nose, a square face bare of hair, and a firm jaw.When a smile of satisfaction graced his face she shivered. If she were not so terrified, she would have called him a handsome man. He was big, aye, but his soft brown eyes softened the sternness of his face. His jaw, clenched in anger, spoke of the ability to command. Shoulder length hair, the color of

new sawn wood, waved around his face and curled under his chin. She noticed a touch of silver at his temples. Heavy, straight eyebrows accentuated those eyes. He stared at her as if he could see within her soul.

Something about him demanded to be obeyed, and with a control that would spell her doom if she allowed him to take her from FentonCastle.

Her heart pounded and a strange sensation gathered in her arms, her legs, her stomach. The blood in her veins surged with an unknown heat and tremors raced through her. Fear—it had to be fear—coursing through her.

The sound from the hall below faded as this new feeling took its place. One thought surfaced. Where had Baldwin Stanton de Bain found such a man? Or had he come from de Bain? Surely this warrior took orders from no one. A sudden thought struck. What of Gilbert’s acquaintances? Who among them had conspired to help de Bain, by seeking this man to take her

from here?

“Mistress, you will come with me.” He directed his words toward Ella.

“Nay, I cannot. I will not leave her,” Ella shouted, shaking so badly Milisent wondered if her companion would remain on her feet.

The man looked surprised for a moment and brought his gaze to her. “Your name?”

Milisent glared at him and sealed her lips. She would tell this man nothing.

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