Where do you find your next book?

A few weeks ago, I asked people on a well-known social media site how and where they bought their next read. In yesteryear, it was the library or bookshop. In my hometown of Tunbridge Wells, there were five shops that sold books. In addition, we enjoyed a children’s library (clean hands, please and no shrieking), […]

Books read and enjoyed in 2024

As in previous years, reading books has given me enormous pleasure. Let’s be honest, I’ve been a voracious reader since I was five. This year, I published a new historical novel, EXSILIUM, the sequel to JULIA PRIMA in the late 4th century plus spent a lot of the year participating in events and drafting […]

Trust your reader!

When we write, we hope that somewhere, in some way, somebody will read it and embrace the message we are sending. When we receive an email from a reader saying they ‘get’ our concept and book world, or when a reader comes up to us at a book event and says it to our face, […]

The political author's dilemma

Reposted after update 2024

Bit of a tricky one, this.

Whatever genre you write, something of you, the author, creeps into your work. Perhaps it’s shades of your opinion, your wishes or even your frustrations. Perhaps you are writing a story that you wish you were living in a far, far away place and […]

Books I've read and enjoyed in 2023

As in 2022, reading books has given me enormous pleasure. This year, I published a special 10th Anniversary hardback edition of INCEPTIO with a gorgeous case cover and dust jacket by Jessica Bell Design, plus contributed a story called ‘My Sister’ to a collection Historical Stories of Exile.

Enough of me, the writer; in […]