The past is never dead, it isn’t even past
Peter Tonkin, It’s that time of the year and we’re at the Ides of March – what is it about the assassination that fascinates you? I’m sure there must be many turning points in history where chance or fate seemed to take a hand, but the assassination of Julius Caesar...
The Roman I ‘Roman Liburnian!’ called the lookout. Captain Barzan of the Cilician pirate trireme Thalassa looked up, saw the direction of the pointing arm and the sleek Roman vessel it was indicating. He turned to the helmsman, ‘Come two points south. We can...
Peter Tonkin, you clearly have a passion for the Elizabethan era, when did this interest start? I have always been fascinated by history. One of my earlier memories (aged 6?) is sitting in my bedroom in Holland (as my father was posted to Germany at the time and we...
Peter Tonkin proves again there is much to explore within the dramatic reign of Queen Elizabeth I. His first novel in The Queen’s Intelligencer series, Shadow of the Axe, focuses on the fascinating events that led to the Essex Rebellion of 1601, and the rival factions...
There is a possibly apocryphal story about the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics. It goes like this. Someone congratulated Rowan Atkinson about his portrayal of Mr Bean bumbling about amidst the antics of the parachuting Queen and the visitation of James...
Doherty & Turney, Gordon Doherty and Simon Turney are the authors behind the Rise of Emperors books, the first of which is Sons of Rome. The two writers, both successes in their own right, have teamed up to write this new series. Peter Tonkin, author of Caesar’s...
In Peter Tonkin’s new novel, the third instalment of The Trojan Murders series, Odysseus greets King Euenos and asks, “Do you remember me?” The answer is yes. This is a world we are familiar with, a well-trod path through history and literature. But using this beloved...
Sons of Rome by Simon Turney and Gordon Doherty. The first thing that strikes the reader at the outset of this masterful novel is that two distinct voices narrate it. Not only are these the voices of the two protagonists Maxentius and Constantine, friends in boyhood,...
In many ways I came to writing historical novels late in my literary career; strangely so, for I have always been fascinated by history. The first book I ever wanted to never end was Carola Oman’s Robin Hood the Prince of Outlaws. A little later, a childhood accident...
‘A hit!’ The referee’s judgement echoes round the room as the ringing clash of the rapier blades dies. Tom Musgrave disengages and steps back along the fencing piste, out of the wide measure called larga misura where his opponent’s rapier could still reach him with a...
