Book Review: When the Eagle Hunts by Simon Scarrow
This third volume in Scarrow’s Eagle series sees our two heroes, the central character Cato and his Centurion Macro, sent on a private mission to rescue the family of General Plautius. They have been...
View ArticleBook Review: The Sky’s Dark Labyrinth by Stuart Clark
I absolutely love this title, beautifully poetic while presenting the concept behind the science in this book. This is the first in an unusual trilogy that follows some of history’s most famous...
View ArticleBook Review: The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
I tend to get a moment of heart sinking when I pick a book this size off of the shelf in a book shop and will generally put it straight back unless it comes highly recommended. Too many are 200 pages...
View ArticleBook Review: Conquest by Stewart Binns
It is 1066 and England is about to undergo the most cataclysmic change of history since the arrival of the Roman legions. On one side, the last Saxon king Harold II. On the other side, William – Duke...
View ArticleSnippet Sunday 12/1/14
Well, I didn’t get very far way back in September 2012 with Six Sentence Sunday *embarrassed blush* when I promised to post six sentences of something every Sunday – here is my second and last post...
View ArticleSnippet Sunday 19/1/14
I said before that my muse wakes me up in the early hours with brilliant ideas. Knowing that an attack can strike at any moment, I have a notepad next to my bed. This is what happened about a week...
View ArticleSnippet Sunday 26/1/14
We have ideas that sit in development hell for years. I think around ten years ago, I had another idea for a post-apocalyptic drama. It felt like a good idea at the time but after writing a brief...
View ArticleSnippet Sunday 9/2/14
Roman Baths in the city of Bath – my novel is set primarily in Romewikimedia.org One of the more colourful characters from my current work in progress is the playboy Valens. Rather likeable, but...
View ArticleBook Review: Death of Kings by Bernard Cornwell
Looking back through my reviews, I realised it had been several years since I read the last Saxon Story by Cornwell so I thought I probably ought to get on with the next one! Uhtred is in Mercia, he...
View ArticleHistory Boys and Girls – Noteworthy Historical Fiction
Ciaran Hinds as Gaius Julius Caesar in the TV series “Rome” I talk a lot about science fiction books on here and I realise that despite posting quite a few book reviews on the genre, I’ve neglected...
View ArticleBook Review: The Devil’s Acre by Matthew Plampin
I occasionally try to read out of my comfort zone. Granted, historical fiction is within my comfort zone but only when it’s a period or subject about which I know a lot or have a keen interest in. I...
View ArticleTV Adaptation of Bernard Cornwell’s “The Last Kingdom” Starts Tonight
Fans of Bernard Cornwell will be delighted to know that the TV adaptation of The Last Kingdom starts tonight. Set during the reign of Alfred The Great, it’s lead character is a Northumbrian who loses...
View ArticleBook Review: The Devil’s Acre by Matthew Plampin
I occasionally try to read out of my comfort zone. Granted, historical fiction is within my comfort zone but only when it’s a period or subject about which I know a lot or have a keen interest in. I...
View ArticleBook Review: Camille and the Lost Diaries of Samuel Pepys by Bob...
This is another commercial preview sent to me recently. Promising a mix of political intrigue and romance against the backdrop of Restoration England, this fascinating concept had me saying an...
View ArticleBook Review: The Pagan Lord (Saxon Stories) By Bernard Cornwell
Book seven in this series set during a time that too few people know about. Cornwell has carefully crafted this book serial to demonstrate a difficult time in the formation of England. Initially it...
View ArticleBook Review: Russka by Edward Rutherfurd
So, onto the next mammoth book by Edward Rutherfurd who is known - perhaps uniquely - for creating a story around the history of a place and populating it with characters and their descendants as we...
View ArticleCharacter Feature: Marcus Didius Falco
As I have only read ten of the approximately twenty books in this series, this character feature is likely to be a "part 1" with a part 2 expected many years from now. Please don't hold me to that...
View ArticleBook Review: Emperor #5: The Blood of Gods by Conn Iggulden
Imagine my delight and surprise to learn that Conn Iggulden was to write a fifth book in the series about the life of Julius Caesar. I read the first four around 15 years ago shortly after their...
View ArticleThe Winter of Discommunication
I posted just five times in January. A combination of ongoing winter bugs (both myself and my other half) that won't go away coupled with an upturn in work has meant I've neglected this blog a little....
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