Original articles
Way back in the last millennium, my father started collecting a few old weapons from various flea markets. Those became mine when I moved out, based on the logic that I’ll actually have them properly hanging for display and also that I’ve already packed them. And I did have them out on a wall for […]
This floated past my feed on LinkedIn, and should have been captioned et tu, Brute? The joke being, of course, that it’s from Cards on the Table, by Agatha Christie, published in 1936… Christie isn’t the only victim. Can you recognise this paragraph? It’s the opening of Chapter 5 of Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein. Published 1818. […]
As a devoted reader of my novels*, you know that as Felix or Jack get called to court on occasion, in their pursuit of dealing with offenders. I do love writing a bit of courtroom drama, Cicero long-winded speeches notwithstanding. So, naturally, when I got the summons for jury duty my first thought was “bloody […]
A few weeks ago, the wife and I went to a used-books fair. We came back with a haul of some interesting finds from the “Old Books” tables. While there were too many others we had to leave behind, I’d like to draw your attention to those below, as I’ve bought them with the explicit […]
A few weeks ago I posted the below image across socials, which made the comments explode… In a good way. So here is some more fun stuff about historical fashions. This was accompanied by my caption/addition of: Yes, you’re going commando. There is no effing way I’m teaching you how to put on a loincloth. […]
I see variations of this floating around the net: Funnsies aside, here’s an explanation of why authors find it hard to write blurbs for their own books (so you feel smarter) and what to do about it (so you can act smarter). Why do we find it hard to blurb our books? This comes down […]
This post originally appeared on Simon Williams newsletter. He writes dark fantasy, and we’ve hosted his characters on The Protagonist Speaks. Go check his work out! Readers are often surprised that straight-up historical fiction requires “world-building,” a term most often associated with fantasy and science fiction. I mean, it’s just history, right? Don’t we know […]
In writing the Sydney Sandstone novella, the very first DI Jack Finkel case, I ended up doing a lot of procrastination research into the early history of the City of Sydney. In the process, I uncovered some amazing material, which I thought I’d share with you here. This is both about the beautiful historical nuggets […]
I’ve heard Matt Dicks on a podcast, and since I’m always trying to improve my storytelling craft I dove into his books as well. What to Expect Expect a very easy to read book, filled with stories and anecdotes that helps explain Dicks’ take on storytelling. Dicks takes you through recognising moments in your life […]
The above cartoon was floating around the internet during the California wildfires of early 2025. Those fires are a tragedy, as is any loss of human life and natural disasters. Having gone through Australia’s “Black Summer” in early 2020, I feel for all my friends in California and hope they are OK. That said, the […]
