What the OU did for me and history

David Puttnam congratulating me at the degree ceremony

Study can broaden, widen and enrich your mind – that was a good enough reason for me when I signed up to do an MA in history with the Open University. I’d had to leave studying history at school because it clashed with Latin. (Who […]

Making a readable PDF

“PDF? No thanks.”

How often do you as a writer get that answer back from a possible reviewer, blogger or beta reader? And I can understand it. Truly. My eyes have had enough of squinting at minute text in a silly font when I’ve been asked to read or review a book.

But PDFs (Portable […]

S J A Turney and A Year of Ravens

This week’s ‘Ravens’ guest is S J A Turney, author of the well-reviewed Roman legionary series, Marius’ Mules, The Ottoman Cycle and the Interregnum trilogy. His new series The Great Game, begins with Praetorian, published in March 2015. Simon combines a love of travel and history with that of architecture and writing. Since leaving school […]

Stephanie Dray and A Year of Ravens

My third guest in the ‘Ravens’ series is Stephanie Dray, whom I had the pleasure of meeting at the Historical Novel Society conference in Denver this summer. Stephanie is a bestselling, multi-published author of historical women’s fiction and fantasy. Her critically acclaimed historical series about Cleopatra’s daughter has been translated into more than six different […]

Kate Quinn and A Year of Ravens

Last week, Russell Whitfield (long time supporter of Roma Nova) told us all about his new collaborative writing project, A Year of Ravens. One of his fellow authors is none other than Kate Quinn, whom I had the pleasure of welcoming to the blog along with the fascinating Vibia Sabina, The Lady of the Eternal […]