LJ Trafford is one of the authors selected to write for Rubicon, a collection of short stories set in Ancient Rome. Her books cover the turbulent ‘Year of the Four Emperors’, which followed the death of Nero in AD 68. Her short story for Rubicon, The Wedding, is set a little earlier, when Nero was […]
Transubstantiation. And why it matters (honestly. It does)
Author SD Sykes tells Historia how researching a 14th-century dispute over church doctrine started her on the path that led to her latest Oswald de Lacy novel, The Bone Fire. When my son started his senior education in 2008 at a Catholic school, we dutifully attended the first family mass as part of our introduction […]
The Darker Quacks – Between folklore and science
Oscar de Muriel found the Victorian clash between science and superstition an irresistible background for his Frey and McGray spooky Scottish whodunits, he tells Historia. A man sets up a box amidst a busy market, jumps on top of it cradling a boxful of tiny glass vials, and begins his chant. His new miraculous tonic […]
Summer reading for history lovers
Recommended summer reading books, both history and historical fiction, from Historical Writers’ Association authors,
I want to write a parallel narrative novel, but I don’t know how
Historia’s resident agony aunt, Dr Darwin, answers another question about the craft (and art) of writing. This time: how to write a parallel narrative novel which grabs – and keeps – your reader. Dear Dr Darwin, I have fantastic idea for a novel which is made of two almost entirely separate historical narrative threads plaited […]
The Battle of Killiecrankie
To mark the 330th anniversary of the Battle of Killiecrankie, historian and author Maggie Craig considers why this violent confrontation still evokes memories as well as enthusiastic public interest. The Battle of Killiecrankie was fought on 27 July 1689. This bloody clash of arms in a mountain pass a few miles north of Pitlochry in […]
Review: The Bone Fire by SD Sykes
It’s a nerve-wracking thing, a series, warns Catherine Hokin. The author commits to a character, the reader buys in; everyone steels themselves against the nightmare moment when a shark will appear and be thoroughly jumped. Well, fear not, Oswald de Lacy fans, this is a shark-free zone: SD Sykes’s latest outing for her medieval crime-solver […]
HWA Crown Awards 2019: the longlists!
Thirty-six outstanding history and historical fiction books enter the race for the top prizes in three categories as the 2019 HWA Crown Awards longlists are announced. The HWA Crown Awards are divided into three categories: the HWA Gold Crown; the HWA Non-Fiction Crown; and the HWA Debut Crown. The longlisted books are: The HWA Gold […]