Saturnalia surprise - a winter party tale

Whatever your take on midwinter, there’s always a celebration and authors love to party! Historical fiction author Helen Hollick has arranged a terrific bash.

When you’ve read my contribution below, hop over and take a virtual glass with some of the others – list and links below. You could be in medieval England, Revolutionary […]

Roman counts

Carina, the heroine of the first three Roma Nova books, has an honorary title of ‘Countess Carina’ as her grandmother’s heir. As the head of the family/tribe, Aurelia is called ‘Countess Mitela’. Now why do the descendants of Romans have these titles? And how does the relationship work between the imperatrix, the ruler of Roma […]

My top ten blog posts

Me and Forum Romanum

Now it’s December, I thought I’d look back to see what the most popular posts have been. Is it a competition? No, it’s a mystery!

In 2013 and 2014 combined (in traditional reverse order)

10. The Alternation of Rome – About creating an alternative timeline and how Roma Nova […]

Conferencius interruptus

Last weekend (well, from Thursday evening), I attended the Harrogate History Festival, but I took a break on the Saturday for an awayday to London.

And I wasn’t in the bar at The Lamb in Conduit Street just for the mouthwatering steak & kidney pie and chips! Upstairs in the meeting room, Christina Courtenay (historical […]

Are the Roma Nova books feminist?

Yes, but ‘feminist-lite’. Let me explain…

First, where do I stand? I believe that women and men should be treated equally. We are different from each other biologically and studies have shown that we have broadly different aptitudes, strengths and approaches dating back well beyond the Stone Age to when we were evolving from […]