This is for Main Blog Updates
I’m sitting in an airport irritated by last minute cancellations that have thrown a wrench in our travel plans. But considering what we have available to us today, I really have nothing to complain about. In the course of less than 8 hours, assuming no further mishaps, I will have traveled over 1,500 miles. That … Read more
This is a little detour from the usual topics to talk about a book I just finished. But it’s a historical fiction novel, so it still fits. The book is called I, The Sun, by Janet Morris. Now, Janet Morris is one of my all time favorite authors. When I had just crossed into my … Read more
Saint Patrick was British (not English), not exactly Welsh, but definitely not Irish! Check out Ireland’s most famous person.
It’s an honor to receive such a kind review from a fascinating author, a contributor to the acclaimed Heroes in Hell anthologies, Andrew Paul Weston. The Retreat to AvalonOur story follows the life of someone barely into manhood; Gawain, the younger son of a tribal chieftain in what would now be called Scotland. Although well … Read more
Hello, folks and welcome to yet another badly delayed blog post. This is a short one, just to announce that I have finally posted my, again, long-delayed and promised webpage listing the sources I used for The Retreat to Avalon. It is far from complete, and I will add more as time goes on. The … Read more
Claiming King Arthur lived in one’s postal code is a frequent pursuit. But claiming descent from Arthur has always been a trickier issue, because he is not said to have any surviving children. Or did he? Even in the fifteenth century, lawyers were mucking things up. The three decade-long War of the Roses had depleted … Read more
Hello! I’m very pleased to have The Retreat to Avalon reviewed by the Historical Novel Society for their November issue. As an organization focused on my favorite genre, this is very exciting. I’m very happy with the review. One of the points they made is that I worked very hard to give readers an authentic … Read more
Happy Halloween, everyone! This day brings out another part of my creative side, as you’ll see in the pictures. For a moment, I’ll bring out my history nerd side. If you can suffer through that, you’ll probably enjoy the pictures. Halloween’s roots began in the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced ‘sow-en’), celebrating the end … Read more
An eight year old girl raised a fifteen hundred year-old sword from a lake recently. Cue the memes of “Strange women, lying in ponds, distributing swords, is no basis for a system of government!” (My favourite scene from that movie.) Unfortunately, it wasn’t in Britain and it wasn’t Excalibur. It was in a lake in … Read more
Hi Folks, and welcome back. This is Part 3 of our exploration of the Germanic tribes that began settling in Britain in the Fifth Century. Today we’re looking at Anglo-Saxon pagan religion. As noted in the prior articles, the people referred to as Saxons by the Fifth Century Britons were made up of a number … Read more