Thriller writer, archaeologist and traveller
The First World War was a century ago, which is as far in the past as the American Civil War was when I was at school. Nobody who fought in it is still alive and it is harder for the modern generation to understand than the Second World War. Countless films, books and TV series... Continue Reading →
Another year, another Guernsey Literary Festival. Unlike all the other festivals I go to, this event is more of a smorgasbord; a feast to suit many different tastes. Rather than bingeing on the whole, people I have met are picking at two or three choice morsels. In this way the festival achieves a broad ‘hit’... Continue Reading →
So I’m trying something different, a Twitter Campaign. Mostly it is to test the water, see how effective it is. After all if the Russians can change the result of elections by mass tweeting, there must be some power in social media. Although it was my sixth novel Glint of Light on Broken Glass was... Continue Reading →
Whilst selling my books at a Winter Fayre this weekend I tweeted “I sometimes feel I’m too English for this”. I’m no shrinking violet, but when I first came into writing I felt uncomfortable pumping up my own books (and hence, myself). I didn’t have the ego to say “my books are great, buy ‘em”,... Continue Reading →
This has to be the best literary festival in the land (if you count the tiny island of Alderney as 'in the land'). Its cosy, its intimate and its focus is firmly on history: historical fiction, biography and non-fiction. As the speaker's room at the Island hall only accommodates an audience of 50, there were... Continue Reading →
'Artie, could you kill a German?’ ‘Course, easy.’ ‘No, but really kill him if he was standing just over there?...’ George challenges his brother as Glint of Light on Broken Glass enters the summer of 1917, with the Great War at its height and no sign of it ending. Artie’s reply is off-the-cuff, the stock... Continue Reading →
In a previous blog I asked "Tell me something I don't know". Glint of Light on Broken Glass is a historical novel - I hope people will learn things by reading it, but it is not a textbook. I have made stuff up. What? You might ask. Let's backtrack a few years when I started the... Continue Reading →
The novel is finished. 'Glint of Light on Broken Glass' is my first historical novel, although my editor reached the half-way point still expecting a body to turn up. It began life as an unpublished short story way back in 1990 called 'A Ghost in my Eye'. During the First World War, a crippled boy drops... Continue Reading →