Category Archives: History
A Game of Bones: the finding of Richard III
Written on February 5, 2013 at 09:09, by Anne
Yesterday morning I was glued to my laptop, watching the press conference announcing the results of the research into the skeleton found in a Leicester car park last year. To cut a long story short, they confirmed that yes, the body is that of Richard III, beyond a reasonable doubt. I was immensely moved by Continue Reading »
Doing it Elizabethan Style: Shakespeare’s Richard III
Written on January 8, 2013 at 13:11, by Anne
A few weeks ago I heard that the Globe had transferred two of their summer productions to the Apollo Theatre for the winter – and more importantly from my perspective, these were two new all-male productions starring Mark Rylance, former artistic director of the Globe. I’d read about the similar productions he’d done almost a Continue Reading »
Research trip: Hampton Court Palace
Written on June 26, 2012 at 16:17, by Anne
One of the fun things about writing historical fantasy is that it’s a great excuse to visit (or revisit) historic locations. Sadly, most of the Tudor palaces that appear in the Night’s Masque trilogy are long gone, but one of the best—Hampton Court—survives, albeit with some 18th-century modifications. Hampton Court Palace makes only a brief Continue Reading »
How to tell you’re Elizabethan
Written on April 3, 2012 at 11:58, by Anne
Way back in the early days of the internet, one of my favourite sites was Mark Rosenfelder’s Metaverse. Drawn there by the Language Construction Kit, I stayed for the geeky fun, which included a series of “culture tests“. It started with “How to tell you’re American”, but soon expanded to many other nationalities. In the Continue Reading »
Homosexuality in Elizabethan England
Written on March 20, 2012 at 07:26, by Anne
One of the issues that keeps coming up in reviews of The Alchemist of Souls is my portrayal of the non-straight characters. Readers who know the period praise the authenticity, whilst those who know little about Elizabethan culture seem surprised by it. Rather than comment directly on individual reviews (which seldom reflects well on the writer), Continue Reading »
Sunstones and skraylings: a bit of alternate history
Written on November 22, 2011 at 18:00, by Anne
A lot of the fun of writing fantasy is in the world-building, which consists largely of taking a bunch of ideas that you find cool, and fitting them together into something new and interesting. When creating a secondary world, you’re free to take absolutely anything you like and try to make it work, but in Continue Reading »
Research trip: Venice
Written on October 11, 2011 at 17:33, by Anne
This year my focus has been on the second book in the Night’s Masque trilogy, The Merchant of Dreams. As the title hints at, this installment is set (partially) in Venice, a favourite city of mine. However I haven’t been there since 2003, so I was very keen on making another visit to do some Continue Reading »
Horrible Histories
Written on June 22, 2011 at 06:43, by Anne
Savvy historical writers have long known that children’s non-fiction is a great resource. Books like Stephen Biesty’s Cross-Sections Castle or Man-of-War provide visual references unparalleled in adult history books – perfect for helping you plan out that seige or pirate attack! Children’s books also include many of the minutiae of daily life that get overlooked Continue Reading »
Researching Historical Fantasy
Written on February 2, 2011 at 12:12, by Anne
I had planned to do a classic movie review today, but I got so caught up in planning Book Two of my Elizabethan fantasy series yesterday, I didn’t get around to watching any. So instead I’m stealing a leaf out of Mark Chadbourn’s blog and talking about how I research my novels, since that’s a Continue Reading »
London research trip
Written on August 17, 2009 at 15:04, by Anne
I’ve finally got around to writing up my recent (July 29th) trip to London – unfortunately my SD card reader died on me, so I couldn’t get my pictures off my camera. Anyway, here it is, in tweets and photos… 7:10 AM Research trip today – Globe Theatre and maybe Tower of London (again). Camera Continue Reading »
