Review: Living With Shakespeare: St Helen’s Parish, London 1593-1598
History, as I learned at school, even at its very best and most exciting can, if a teacher or writer tries hard enough, become dull and tedious in the extreme. Which is why I picked sciences for A level and dropped history. I loved history as a subject, and had studied the medieval period, Victorian … Continue reading
Review: EMPIRES OF CRIME by Tim Newark, published by Pen And Sword History
ISBN: 1526713047 I have to admit, I picked this up with a degree of trepidation. There are so many books published which blame the British Empire for everything from famine, slavery, warfare and xenophobia, that I am forced to select my reading with care, just to avoid damage to my blood pressure. I need not have … Continue reading
2020 – A New year!
A new year is always a time to take stock, to think about things, and plan and scheme! This year is going to be one of change for me. I’ve finally taken back the rights to half my books from Simon and Schuster and will be working with a number of other publishers to market … Continue reading
Working While Family’s on Holiday
There is no doubt that writing is a great deal easier (for me) when school keeps my family at bay. My wife helps at the local college. When teachers were off sick, away on training, or otherwise engaged, the school used to call in qualified teachers through an agency. But agencies tend to charge large … Continue reading
Writing and Editing
And so, having disposed of the copy edit last week, I am now reliably informed (Natasha is never wrong) that Severn House will post the proofs of the next Jack Blackjack story to me today, so I’ll have to work through them from tomorrow or Friday. It’s an odd job, being a writer. You need … Continue reading
Hoarding Can Be Good
Okay, I admit it, I am pretty bad for hoarding. Look at my bookshelves. I am not going to read every one of these again. In fact, I suspect only perhaps 15% of them will be read. I have books I adore (and know pretty much off by heart), and which I cannot get rid … Continue reading
Writing in the Cold!
It is rare indeed that I can wake up, stare out towards the moors, and see snow smothering the top of Cosdon Beacon. This is all wrong. The snows should not continue into April. I am happy enough to wake to the sight of snow in February and March, but those months have gone. I … Continue reading
Book reviews
I made it a firm policy many years ago that I would not give a bad review to someone else’s work. It’s not because I am a particularly kind person. I have most definitely read several books that truly did not deserve those hours of my life. Those are hours I could have spent with … Continue reading
Nothing Succeeds Like Failure
This title appealed to me for two reasons today. The first is, yesterday I put up a video that demonstrated my utter incompetence with technology. I had tried to make a video recording of opening a parcel. Not, you would think, the hardest thing to do. However, the camera decided to go into a bit … Continue reading
Why Are Books Good?
We are blessed with another splendid day. It’s confusing, though, to be sitting indoors, huddled in warm clothes, and then, on wandering outdoors, to find that it’s too hot for anything other than shirtsleeves. Today started very well, thanks to a delightful teacher called Mark, who wrote to thank me for my notes on writing. … Continue reading
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