Religion and realpolitik in the reign of Charles II
Was King Charles II (below) secretly a Catholic? It would have been political suicide for him to admit so publicly…
Glorious revolution – or a sordid little stitch-up?
On November 5, 1688, William of Orange, landed in Devon with 15,000 armed men. James Stuart, King of England, Scotland…
Blood’s Game bargains: fill your thigh-length black leather boots
Hooray! It’s publication week for the paperback version of Blood’s Game. The first novel in my 17th-century swashbuckling Blood series…
What I’m writing about this week, No1: the Siege of Carrickfergus
This is the first in a series of short blogs that is meant to give my readers an idea of…
The greatest heist of the 17th century
A little before 7am on a chilly day in early May, 1671, a tall, middle-aged man, calling himself Thomas Ayliffe…
Blood’s Game paperback cover reveal
Here is the cover of the paperback version of Blood’s Game, which will be available online and in the shops…
Tiger, tiger burning bright . . .
As some of you know, I have written a fantasy novel called Gates of Stone, below, which comes out in…
Blood’s Revolution: the lost chapter
This blog is basically a deleted chapter from my forthcoming novel Blood’s Revolution (out October 2018 in hardback). One of…
Gates of Stone: cover reveal
This is a sneak peak of the cover of my new fantasy novel Gates of Stone. It won’t be out…
The politics of pleasure (or sticking it to the Puritans)
I’m heading off to Ireland tomorrow morning to research the ending of Blood’s Campaign (Blood 3). But before I…