Beer, brave men and a royal bastard’s rebellion
In the summer of 2016, I went to Somerset to watch a re-enactment of the Battle of Sedgemoor (1685). It…
Free Book Friday: this week’s winners! (October 12, 2018)
Thanks to all those – hundreds of you – who got in touch for the first ever Free Book Friday….
Gates of Stone: mapping an imaginary world
I am very excited to be able to show you the map of the world I created in my forthcoming…
Time to take stock . . . and make it a little bit Chinese
I know that this blog is supposed to be about my books. And Blood’s Revolution (book 2 in the Holcroft…
What I’m writing about this week, No2: Raparees
I’m writing a novel about the wars in Ireland between the forces of William of Orange and King James II…
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…