Two historical novels I’ve enjoyed recently
I usually write quite long reviews because I have been asked to review a book by somebody or because I think that there is a lot that can sensibly be said about it, but this week I'm doing two very short reviews simply because I really enjoyed these books and would...
Filming ‘The White Rajah’
Back in 2013 I blogged that Rob Allyn, an American film producer with a solid, if unspectacular, back catalogue, had been travelling around Sarawak in Borneo scoping out the possibility of making a film about Sir James Brooke. Despite a reported £15 million dollar...
Rivers of London: Ben Aaronovitch
I have only kept in touch with one person I was at school with. It turns out that he is an extraordinarily good copy editor, so now he has been raked in to read all my books before they are released on the public. Just remember that if you keep in touch with old...
A weekend off
Last week I promised that now that we can again travel into Wales I’d give you a break from both The White Rajah and lockdown ennui and give you some photos of the countryside. It turned out to be a good weekend to get away, didn’t it? The middle of Wales tends to be...
Zombie Pharm: Larry Beinhart
I’ve just been reading Larry Beinhart’s latest. It’s a lot of fun. I’m always interested to read how other writers approach things I’ve just written (or am writing) about. So I was fascinated to see Loren Estleman tackling the idea of anti-Napoleonic agents in Paris...
Waasup?
In the early days of lockdown (can you remember that far back?) lots of us made a point of trying to keep in touch with friends we could no longer meet up with. The more technically enabled went for Zoom while people like me (I don't even have a camera on my computer)...
Fly or Fall: Gilli Allan
It’s 2007 and Nell, stay-at-home mum to two teenagers, is still stuck in the 1980s with her shapeless Oxfam clothes and her CND pendant and her slightly other-worldly approach to material goods. Husband Trevor is rather more in tune with the times. When Nell inherits...
The White Rajah: publication day!
So here we are: The White Rajah is back on Amazon after a break while I did all the boring stuff that let me get the rights back and put it out again under my own 'Big Red' imprint. It's a big day. What can I say that I haven’t said already? Not a lot really. It’s the...
Things I Should Have Said and Done: the new launch from Colette McCormick
The prospect of life after death is not only the central theme of Things I Should Have Said and Done but also something that fascinates me. The way I see it, whoever or whatever made us wouldn’t have invested millions of years of evolution for us to just live out our...
‘The White Rajah’: one week to go
One week to go until the publication of ‘The White Rajah’. So what do you get for your money?