A character’s name will be the trait most often referred to in a book, so today I’d like to talk about historical and fantastical names, as well as literary usage. We’d start with a quick review of some interesting naming conventions from history (Romans, duh, but also others), then touch on fantasy and science fiction […]
Historical Fiction
Book Review: Reasons to Kill God, by I.V. Olokita
Having grown up in Israel, I was drawn to this book by the subject matter of Nazi war criminals, especially considering the author and unique point-of-view used. What to expect The story is told by a Nazi war criminal, Klaus Holland, hiding in Brazil post WW2. When he’s found out and sent to trial, he’s […]
Book Series Review: Bridge of Birds, by Barry Hughart
Whenever someone asks me about my all-time favourite books, I invariable whinge about not being able to choose just one. But if I’m pressed further, Barry Hughart’s Bridge of Birds is amongst the first books I’ll mention. The novel tells of the first adventure of Number Ten Ox (the villager who’s telling the story) as he’s […]
Book Review: Memento Mori, by Ruth Downie
This is probably my most-favourite Roman-era mystery series. I have previously interviewed both protagonists and was proud to be a part of the global launch of Memento Mori (you can read the first chapter here on my blog). So the short version is: unsurprisingly, I enjoyed it very much. In fact, I enjoyed it so much […]
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 Review: Philip Matyszak’s 24 Hours in Ancient Rome
I came across Matyszak’s 24 Hours in Ancient Rome: A Day in the Life of the People Who Lived There via a recommendation by Alison Morton (of Nova Roma fame). It looked right up my alley, so I jumped straight into it. Very glad I did! What to Expect A witty, fictional non-fiction description of […]
Ancient News
As most of you know, I love reading news about discoveries from ancient Rome. This post collects some recent articles, as well as a short piece I wrote for Virtual FantasyCon event about using real historical detail as background colour for storytelling. First, a bit out of In Numina. I use a lot of real […]
National Maritime Week – two millennia ago
A few weeks ago, Mary R. Woldering has asked me to contribute a piece for her blog, with the theme of National Maritime Week. I have chosen to address the issue of the life of ancient galley-slaves, and who really rowed the naval war galleys. Below I reproduce the full post. Hi, and welcome to the […]
Podcast with Gabrielle Mathieu
Or rather, Gabrielle’s podcast with me 🙂 Gabrielle lived on three continents by the age of eight. She’d experienced the bustling bazaars of Pakistan, the serenity of Swiss mountain lakes, and the chaos of the immigration desk at the JFK airport. Perhaps that’s why she developed an appetite for the unusual and disorienting. Which neatly […]
Dressed to Kill (no, really!)
This is about historical clothing, not about clichés 🙂 It’s inspired by Marie Brennan’s post on Tor.com: How to Do Karate in a Victorian Dress. I suggest you read the entire post! Replace ‘dress’ with ‘toga’ and this is totally something I should be doing! I am happy to say that I do pay close […]
