This post appears as part of the “Brain to Books Cyber Convention & Book Expo Fantasy Book Tour”… Running from April 6th through April 8th 2018 this online book event brings readers and authors together for a weekend of books, and book related events. G’day, Ave, and welcome 🙂 I am participating this year again […]
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Book Review: Grim, by Gavin McCallion
I guess the best way to summarise Grim would be “a cross between Gaiman and Trainspotting”. Yeah, it’s a bit of a mind-bender right there. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but the premise looked promising. I started to read – and just kept on reading. McCallion certainly makes it explicit from the get-go […]
Ancient Roman Sources and Science
Ancient Greeks and Romans had pretty advanced science – and we know quite a bit about it. The two pieces referenced today will expose you to both what we know and how we do. First an article about how we know what we know about Roman legions. This is extracted from Adrian Goldsworthy’s excellent The Complete […]
Book Review: Black City Demon, by Richard A. Knaak
Seems like I just can’t stay away from these noir-historical-fantasy-detective blends… This is the second book in the Black City series; I’ve reviewed the first one here. What to expect This book, while a separate adventure, continues straight from the previous one and builds up on the events therein. You can expect to learn more […]
How My Book Reviews Help Sales
I’ve been posting a lot of book reviews recently, so I thought I’d qualify my review scale and criteria. This should help those reading them judge whether my reviews align with their views enough to be considered a good recommendation. I’ll start with what my father taught me about wine appreciation, and is pretty much […]
Excerpt: Memento Mori, by Ruth Downie
I’ve raved in the past about Ruth Downie’s excellent Medicus series. I’ve interviewed her protagonist Ruso, and at the end of the month we’ll be publishing a highly-entertaining interview with his wife Tilla on The Protagonist Speaks (I suggest you subscribe to that blog so you don’t miss it – the interview is delicious!). It […]
State of the Onion
It’s a well kept secret that the end of February marks a time of reflection for yours truly. In (very) ancient Rome this was a time of purification (februum), following which the new year began in Martial vigor. Now it’s just time for cake (because cake). While my cake might have, err, other Roman numerals […]
The View from the Other Side
This piece of flash fiction was written specifically for the Dreamtime Dragons anthology. I’ve announced it previously here, but thought I’d make this flash fiction available on the site to increase the anthology’s visibility and as encouragement to go and get a copy (plenty of good authors in there, and all proceeds go to charity). It’s also […]
Book & Series Review: Erast Fandorin by Boris Akunin
I’ve recently finished reading the latest (to be translated) Erast Fandorin mystery – All The World’s A Stage. I’ve talked about this series before, so it’s a good opportunity to review both the series and the latest volume. Overall, this is one of the best historical-detective mystery series out there. It is intelligent, engaging, and […]
Book Rreview: Philip Matyszak’s Gladiator: The Unofficial Manual
Following Matyszak’s 24 Hours in Ancient Rome (because, y’know, he has a great style balancing information and readability), I sought out his other books. Gladiator touches on a subject core to the third Felix Novel – In Victrix – so I started with it. What to Expect A witty, lighthearted non-fiction description of the lives of gladiators […]
FELIX THE FOX MYSTERIES 