aka The John Dee Chronicles
General posts that don’t fit a specialised category
During a recent visit to North Yorkshire, England, I took 50+ photos of Whitby Abbey with my iPhone 15 Pro. I basically walked around the abbey ruin, taking a photo every 15 or 20 yards, trying to get as much into the photo as possible whilst avoiding the fishpond and other boggy areas. The abbey … Read more
I have completed plotting out a 4-book mini-series to continue the Predestination series after Insurrection. The first book of the mini-series will be called Benediction (ie. it is book 4 of the Predestination series – Star Wars episode numbering springs to mind, I know – my apologies). The book opens with Rook in the Temple … Read more
We meet the Bishop in his office overlooking the Seine, where scattered manuscript pages and an overturned inkwell hint at recent writing frustrations Renaissance Weekly: Your Grace, thank you for receiving us during what must be an incredibly busy time. The recent Faber affair has certainly kept the Inquisition occupied. He gestures wearily at a … Read more
Very excited to announce the publication of the third book in my Predestination series of novellas (chronologically preceding the Resurrection novel, which was a prequel for Predestination – yes, confusing, sorry!) Now available as a Paperback and ebook from Amazon and soon at other ebook sellers. I’ll post an excerpt soon… watch this blog!
When I’m researching the history, characters, and locations that I use in the Predestination series of cosy Tudor mysteries, I build up a lot of material that never makes it into the books – it would be just too dry to drop it into the middle of the fiction. However, it is fascinating stuff! To … Read more
Tudor historical fiction mystery books have exploded in popularity over the past two decades. From C.J. Sansom’s dark atmospheric Shardlake novels to lighter cosy mysteries like the Predestition series, readers can’t seem to get enough of sleuths solving crimes in Henry VIII and his dynasty’s England. But what exactly makes Tudor mysteries so compelling? And … Read more
Back in 2018-2019 I was commuting to work by car, about 1 hour each direction. This was in the Calgary area of Alberta, Canada. Most of the roads I travelled were long, straight, and 2-lanes in each direction, with minimal other traffic 😀 I had time to listen … and to think. What I listened to, … 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