aka The John Dee Chronicles
J.A. Downes One question I often get is, ‘When will John Dee, Jack, and Kat return?’ Another is, ‘What happened to Kat at the end of Predestination?’ Never fear, the answer is near! John, Jack, and Kat will return in the sequel which I am currently writing (spring 2024) with a hoped for publication date of summer 2024. … Read more
Proclamation Poetry will be the death of me, is finally published. Initially available as paperback at Amazon, and eBook on Kindle and Kindle Unlimited. This sequel picks up where Predestination ended, in the summer of 1553. King Edward VI has passed away and England faces the prospect of abiding by Edward’s ‘Devise for the Succession’ and … Read more
Resurrection: The Heresy of a Jesuit, is the prequel to my Predestination series. It was published yesterday and will be available on all the normal sites (Amazon, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, etc) within a day or two of this post. Resurrection is centred on the young John Dee’s visit to Paris (France) in … Read more
I am pleased to provide an early ‘reveal’ of the cover for Resurrection: The Heresy of a Jesuit. All parts of a novel require slavish attention to detail, and that is especially true of the cover art. It is, after all, the ‘face’ of the manuscript, and needs to both be recognisable and to evoke … Read more
On November 30th I published my eBook Predestination: The Bloodstone of Boiorix, on Amazon/Kindle. Now seems like a really good moment to give a shout-out to my pre-readers and editor, without whom Predestination would not be nearly as polished. Of course, any remaining errors are mine alone, but I guarantee there would have been many more … Read more
One of the advantages of writing historical fiction is that you have a worthy excuse for buying great reference books. Some of the works that I found most useful and dipped into (or even lived in) are listed here: Title Author ISBN Edward VI, The Lost king of England Chris Skidmore. 0-312-35142-9 The Arch-Conjuror of … Read more
My intention with this blog is to provide more information and images of places, events and people from within the story, that either interest me, or are of particular interest to readers. I would love to receive your photos and stories of the locations that are mentioned in the book. Or perhaps you own or … Read more
Today I uploaded the fabulous cover art for Predestination: The Bloodstone of Boiorix (book 1 of the Predestination series). I hope you agree that it looks wonderful; evoking the concepts of history, mystery and the adventuress Kat, with her shadowy background. Jane, from JD Smith Design, guided me through the cover design process with patience … Read more
I spent seven years (2014-21) researching and writing my first book, Predestination I wove the fictional tale around actual historical events, locations and people. Of course it is a work of fiction, so the characters’ thoughts and deeds are my invention. I find this history endlessly fascinating and I wanted to share that fascination with you, and … Read more