Hello, folks and welcome to yet another badly delayed blog post. This is a short one, just to announce that I have finally posted my, again, long-delayed and promised webpage listing the sources I used for The Retreat to Avalon. It is far from complete, and I will add more as time goes on. The … Read more
Claiming King Arthur lived in one’s postal code is a frequent pursuit. But claiming descent from Arthur has always been a trickier issue, because he is not said to have any surviving children. Or did he? Even in the fifteenth century, lawyers were mucking things up. The three decade-long War of the Roses had depleted … Read more
Hello! I’m very pleased to have The Retreat to Avalon reviewed by the Historical Novel Society for their November issue. As an organization focused on my favorite genre, this is very exciting. I’m very happy with the review. One of the points they made is that I worked very hard to give readers an authentic … Read more
Happy Halloween, everyone! This day brings out another part of my creative side, as you’ll see in the pictures. For a moment, I’ll bring out my history nerd side. If you can suffer through that, you’ll probably enjoy the pictures. Halloween’s roots began in the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced ‘sow-en’), celebrating the end … Read more
An eight year old girl raised a fifteen hundred year-old sword from a lake recently. Cue the memes of “Strange women, lying in ponds, distributing swords, is no basis for a system of government!” (My favourite scene from that movie.) Unfortunately, it wasn’t in Britain and it wasn’t Excalibur. It was in a lake in … Read more
Hi Folks, and welcome back. This is Part 3 of our exploration of the Germanic tribes that began settling in Britain in the Fifth Century. Today we’re looking at Anglo-Saxon pagan religion. As noted in the prior articles, the people referred to as Saxons by the Fifth Century Britons were made up of a number … Read more
Hi Folks! I spent some time learning a little about video and image editing and I am pleased to announce my first video on YouTube, a movie-style trailer for The Retreat to Avalon. You can see it on YouTube here: The Retreat to Avalon Trailer A little background- Any lover of Arthuriana will probably recognize … Read more
A short article describing the clothing and jewelry of Anglo-Saxons in the 5th Century.
This past weekend I learnt the Vikings were coming. So after burying all of my valuables and hiding the women-folk, I went down to the dock to watch the Draken Harald Harfagre come in. At 115 feet long, it’s the largest recreated Viking ship in the world, crafted by original methods based on archeology and … Read more
Hi Folks, Jenn and I are really looking forward to our book-signing party tonight at Bull Feeney’s in the Old Port of Portland! We’ll be doing Jeopardy Style Arthurian Trivia for several great prizes, and everyone who visits gets a free raffle ticket for our grand prize. Also, if you bring a book, or buy … Read more