Women in combat roles?

I don’t want to sound specious, but I could say, ’They’ll be making them bishops next.’ Oh, they just did that.

UK defence secretary, Michael Fallon, announced on 19 December that he wanted to end the army’s ban on women serving in frontline infantry roles in the British Army by 2016. He pointed out that […]

Meet David Ebsworth's Napoleonic women warriors

A welcome return visit from my writing friend David Ebsworth telling us about his next project …

1815. The 200th anniversary is looming. A passion for the Napoleonic period is tugging at my writing hand. Yes, I thought, my next one will be about Waterloo. But from what angle?

I began looking for the […]

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 […]

Tough heroines

“Boadicea Haranguing the Britons” by John Opie (1761-1807)

‘Tough’, ‘feisty’, ‘kick-ass’ – clichés, ironic or signposts? And, provocative question, would you apply them to men? Perhaps the first one and possibly the third, but I can’t remember reading about a ‘feisty hero’.

That aside, how do you recognise a tough heroine? Boudica, queen […]

Meet Carina Mitela, main character...

Antoine Vanner, who writes the Dawlish Chronicles, cracking naval adventure stories in the 19th Century, has invited me to participate in a blog-hop about meeting writers’ main characters. I asked Carina, the heroine of INCEPTIO and PERFIDITAS, if she’d like to take part and she said, ‘Sure’.

What is the name of your character? Is […]