You all know (or should know) my love for history goes hand-in-hand with my love of food. The scene in the fish-sauce factory in Murder In Absentia, a mere sideline, turned out one of the more memorable parts of the book (to say nothing about cooking the gryphon…). To me, knowing the history of a […]
News
Writing Update
Yeah, about that… When you start an “update” blog-post with the image on the left, there’s only one place it can go, right? Well, now. Let’s take it as an exercise in finding the optimism in everything. It wasn’t all a total wash. The pandemic has indeed put a damper on my writing. I used […]
Antiquarians Antiquating (links from antiquity)
First, as a warm up, last October Archaeologists Discovered 20 Sealed Ancient Egyptian Coffins. It’s a unique find, in that the sarcophagi are very well preserved and are still entirely sealed. While I’m always the curious type, 2020 being what it is – may I suggest perhaps we shouldn’t open them? 😅 Seriously, though, read […]
Roman Links: from military to sorcery
Welcome to our regularly scheduled survey of ancient news, from archaeological discoveries to experimental archaeology. This time we cover anything from shipwrecks to deliberate wrecking equipment, from war to medicine. Let us start with your classical bit of archaeology. This is an amazing find from the Danube: Probable Roman shipwrecks unearthed at a Serbian coal […]
Nesting with Books
Exciting news! It is with great pleasure, that I announce that I have been invited to join Booknest.eu as a regular contributor! Booknest.eu is a top fantasy book review site. They run their own yearly fantasy awards, and the blog is one of the ten SPFBO judging blogs every year (and has picked some of […]
Ancient Discoveries to Rock Your Boat (you’ll get the joke later)
Welcome to your favourite collection of ancient oddities — where the plagues are firmly history 🙂 I won’t bother you with Stuff To Learn During Quarantine. I figured your social feed is chock full of that stuff anyway, and you would have seen it. Same with actual historical information about historical plagues, because, again, everyone’s […]
The Importance of Space
Today, we are used to seeing the ruins of ancient Roman and Greek building like in this picture: a few columns and a broken outer shell, the pieces erected back by modern archaeologists to give us a sense of the ancient grandeur. But what was it like, when those buildings were living, breathing spaces, used […]
Achievement Unlocked: How to Celebrate EVERYTHING as an Indie Author
February, as some might know, marks a certain reflective time in my life. Fittingly, this last February has marked a certain new achievement in my author journey. In the four and a half years since I launched my first novel back in September 2015, this past month marks the achievement of being the first month […]
Ancient Oddities
Hello and welcome to antiquity! Tonight, for your edification and amusement, we collect a number of heretofore unheard and unseen mysteries, and attempt to unlock the secrets of the ages! Get ready to expand your mind from the comfort of your couch, as we delve into time itself. Pre-history Ever chewed gum in class and […]
Feasting in the Shadow of Death
This is all stuff that came up during the research and writing of In Victrix, and found it’s way in some off-hand way into the book. I’ve mentioned before how small trivia and throwaway lines make for rich world-building. For me, I love exploring all those articles for the enjoyment in learning more about a […]
