The past is never dead, it isn’t even past
HMS Belfast - the Town-class light cruiser, originally launched in 1938 is open to visitors once more. The vessel saw convoy duty, survived the Battle of North Cape and took part in the destruction of the Scharnhorst during WW2. The Belfast has long been moored on the...
I have been asked to provide some tips on publishing your historical novel for writers when submitting proposals to publishers or literary agents. There is, of course, more information available via other articles on the internet and the likes of The Writers' &...
Detailed yet pacy, insightful and informative, Richard Greene (no relation) has written a thoroughly enjoyable one-volume biography of Graham Greene. The novelist has attracted plenty of labels over the years: Catholic, communist, womaniser, depressive, genius. What...
Intelligent, accessible, and entertaining – William Boyd’s Trio was always going to be one of the novels of the year. Boyd is often rightly lauded for his craftsmanship, in relation to the structure and style of his works, but not enough credit is given to him for his...
Writing a novel can sometimes feel like wading through glutinous mud. But writing a short story can be similar to skating across ice. Before you realise that you’re on a journey, you reach your destination. The latest lockdown has been far from jolly, to say the...
Rewriting History There seems to be an increasingly alarming trend nowadays for some people to consider that the story of the Second World War was the story of the Holocaust. They may mention the Holocaust in any word association exercise with the Second World War -...
Sherlock Holmes versus Raffles In the 1890s there emerged a completely new character in popular fiction. He was intelligent, a master of disguise, accompanied by a faithful assistant and unorthodox. But it wasn’t Sherlock Holmes. It was the cricketer - and amateur...
War and Religion Whilst writing Siege, I was fortunate enough to speak to a number of historians who were experts in the First Crusade. One of their unifying comments on the subject was that the participants were genuinely motivated by faith. They were true believers....
It is perhaps fitting - given his lack of fame and success - that many of you will have never heard of Pat Hobby. Hobby was a character who featured in several F. Scott Fitzgerald short stories towards the end of the author’s life, while he was working in Hollywood....
What is your approach to researching your novels? Has the process changed over the years? I used to commit to a lot more preliminary reading before putting pen to paper, but there is a danger of over researching sometimes. There are a few periods I am now familiar...
