I just got some bad news. Due to an issue with the book layout my publisher just caught, the book launch will be delayed. Since it is almost Christmas, and the Western world tends to shut down and back up at Christmas, the book may not come out until early January now. Well, poop. I’ll… Read more Alas! Woe! Delay!
Mansfield Parsonage comes out this Friday, and I am both a nervous wreck and hella excited all at the same time. It being my first piece of fiction prose, I am as anxious for a good reception as I was for my first “baby”, Blood Will Tell. For some reason, the nonfiction books became easier… Read more December at Mansfield Parsonage
The second wife of French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, Maria Ludovica Leopoldina Franziska Therese Josepha Lucia, was born 12 December 1791, the first child of Emperor Francis II of Austria by his second wife, Maria Theresa of Naples and Sicily. Her name was revised to the more Francophone form, Maria Louise, when she wed Napoleon in… Read more Happy Birthday to Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma
For the next 6 weeks it is going to be all Regency Era, all the time here. Why? Because on 16 December (the birthday of She Who Is Greatness – Jane Austen) my book Mansfield Parsonage will be released by Made Global Publishers. This makes me soooooooo happy! The book is a retelling of Austen’s… Read more The Regency Era, Mansfield Park, and Me
Roald Dahl is one of the most famous authors of children’s stories in the world, and since he was born in Cardiff on 13 September 1916 he is considered a native son of Wales, which the Welsh are justifiably proud of. However, this is cheating a bit; he was the son of two Norwegian… Read more One Century of Roald Dahl
All languages have taboo words (the so-called dirty words for example) and all languages will lose innocent words that sound a little too much like a taboo word. No one uses the worded niggardly any more, even though it simply means “miserly”, because it has a very bad word indeed in it. It has no… Read more Feckful and Feckless
Sorry I haven’t been blogging lately. You would think that I could at least blog about history is I had no facinating Welsh anecdotes to pass along; history happens every day right? And this IS a history blog, right? Well, technically it’s a history blog … but let’s be honest. I’m going to talk about… Read more Whut is werds?
The Mary Rose was the prized flagship of King Henry VIII’s navy. She was a carrack-type warship who was in service for 33 years before she sank in action on 19 July 1545. The Mary Rose would slumber in the deeps of the Solent, the straits north of the Isle of Wight, until she was… Read more The Mary Rose Visits Davy Jones
In my book The Jezebel Effect I discuss how female politicians are slut shamed in a way male leaders are not: Any woman can be slut shamed, but what happens when a woman gets real power and/or prestige in her community? Does the slut shaming increase? Yes and no. If they are maintaining the sociocultural… Read more Brace Yourself For the Slut Shaming Onslaught
Eighteen authors (including ME!) will be in London on 24 September to talk about history, discuss our books, answer question, mingle with our readers, and sign things if you want them signed. All proceeds are going to help the good people examining the Mary Rose winkle yet more facts out of her remains …… Read more Meet The Authors!