Worcester’s Commandery

I’ve always felt a strong connection to the Commandery. It’s history runs deep. As you can imagine, speaking before the Battle of Worcester Society in the Great Hall of the Commandery was an unparalleled thrill. If you missed reading about the occasion, click here for the post. Some buildings are more than just the wood and timber that makes up their frame; more than the collection of rooms that make up their space. They occupy a place in history. Imagine a thousand year old building, with its use and purpose changing with the tides of history. Worcester’s Commandery, with its…

The Dreaded Bio

March 16, 2017August 19, 2019 Categories: WritingTags: Endeavour · Highwayman · historical romance · Romantic fiction · Traitor's Knot · Writing a bio · Writing a blurb · Writing a synopsis9 Comments

My publisher, Endeavour, needs a bio from me. For civilians, that is what we call a biography; for writers, it’s the 3rd worst painful exercise to subject a writer to. The undisputed most painful exercise, of course, is the synopsis. Cue the deep-throat narrator. One woman…one natural disaster…one hour to live… can she survive? Writing a synopsis is the equivalent of facing screaming legions of Hell during the Apocalypse. Do you have any idea on how hard it is to boil your full length novel down to a one or two page synopsis and not make it sound like, “and then…

Mercurius Istoria ~ March 2017

March 1, 2017August 19, 2019 Categories: Mercurius IstoriaTags: 17th century broadsheet · Cryssa Bazos · Mercurius Istoria · words matter2 Comments

Mercurius Istoria is now out. This month’s broadsheet features curated articles with the theme ‘words do matter’. Subscribe now and receive Mercurius Istoria by email. Keep up with 17th century news. To access the March 2017 edition, click here.

Footnotes in History: Major Peter Burgoine

February 16, 2017August 19, 2019 Categories: 17th centuryTags: Burgoyne · Governor of Coventry · Major Burgoine · Major Burgoyne · Peter Burgoine · Pride's Purge5 Comments

Diving into the minutiae of history. Some call it research while others, procrastination. I prefer to think of it as inspiration. History is my source for inspiration, and it tends to be the small things that attract my attention. The information you can find in footnotes can be veritable gold. There’s the main historical account and then there are these nuggets of information that don’t quite fit in with the narrative, but were fascinating for the historian nonetheless. It’s like a impromptu “by the way did you know” anecdote; an invitation to explore the rabbit warren. The gaps in history…

Tudor House: 17th century life

February 9, 2017August 19, 2019 Categories: 17th centuryTags: 17th century social life · Brewer's Quay · Crabchurch Conspiracy · Featured · Mark Vine · Tudor House · Weymouth12 Comments

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to step back into the 17th century? Last summer, I had the pleasure of getting a guided tour of the English Civil War era landmarks in Weymouth by local historian, Mark Vine. What was then the twin towns of Weymouth and Melcombe, separated by the quayside and a bridge, today it’s simply Weymouth. One of the must see haunts is the Tudor House, a beautifully preserved Elizabethan home. It’s situated by Brewers Quay on the harbour, and if you account for the fact that the quayside has been expanded in modern…