Alison Morton | Alison Morton Author

Blenheim, forerunner to the HNS Conference

I’d never been to Blenheim, or Blenheim Palace as it’s more properly called. I knew it was the home of John and Sarah Churchill, the first (gifted and ambitious) Duke and Duchess of Marlborough, by having watched The First Churchills, an excellent BBC series made in 1969.

Built built between 1705 and circa 1722 in […]

Annelise Freisenbruch and the Rivals of the Republic

Today I’m delighted to welcome to my blog somebody whose writing I deeply admire. I bought ‘The First Ladies of Rome’, which explored the hidden history of women in Ancient Rome, as soon as I saw it in 2010. The author and today’s honoured guest, Annelise Freisenbruch, was born in Bermuda and studied Classics at […]

2016 HNS Conference Oxford - a quick interim post

I’ve been away at the Historical Novel Society Conference where I was coordinating the indie table, helping with registration and problem solving, plus running a panel on indie publishing. There will be a report – I promise – but in the meantime, here are some photos…

HNS16 gala dinner. Left to right: Christina […]

Images, work and copyright

You’ve seen the most wonderful picture on Google Images. An online blog has the perfect photo for your book cover. Look at that graphic – wouldn’t that make your book event notice/header/PR banner shine?

STOP!

Unless you pay a licence or ask the owner’s permission to reproduce it, it’s theft. The least you could […]

Writing is bad for you

There, I’ve said it. I’m deep in the last third of my sixth book and I should know better. The crisis is coming, the characters’ nerves are shot and all I see is failure and death. I can’t sleep more than five hours nor stop thinking about those poor souls living under oppression or the […]