I just finished Bernard Cornwell’s 1356, so I’m jumping ahead about nine centuries this week in my series on medieval fiction to allow for a review of yet another great work by one of my all-time favorite authors. “Go with God, but fight like the Devil!” 1356 is the fourth book in Cornwell’s Grail Quest…
The Winter King is the first book in Bernard Cornwell’s masterful retelling of Arthurian legend. From the very first chapter, it is evident that Cornwell’s version would be different from many tales of Arthur. The narrator, for example, is the little-known Derfel Cadarn, writing his story as a monk in a small monastery to Igraine,…
Medieval fiction set in the late Fifth Century is largely of the Arthurian variety, as I noted last week in my post titled Who Was King Arthur? Many scholars believe that Arthur (assuming he really existed) would have lived during the last decades of the Fifth Century and the early Sixth Century. Saint Bede (a…
Leading up to my next installment in my series on Medieval Fiction, I thought I’d pose some questions about one of the late Fifth Century’s most legendary figures: Who was Arthur of Britain? And was he a real person or a purely mythical figure? Arthur vs. Mordred – One of my favorite Arthurian images! These are…
As anyone who follows this blog knows, I am especially fond of fiction set in the Middle Ages. My own novel, Enoch’s Device, is set at the end of the Tenth Century, and most of the books I read and review have some connection to the medieval world. These include not only historical fiction, but…
Season 3 of HBO’s Game of Thrones premiers on March 31st, so it’s about time for another review of a book from George R.R. Martin’s epic series A Song of Ice and Fire. As I’ve mentioned before, I started reading A Song of Ice and Fire shortly before the HBO series first premiered, so I arrived…
This week, Enoch’s Device received two more reviews on the web. Steven Reynolds’ review on SPR went live on February 12. You can read the complete review here, but here are some highlights: “Enoch’s Device is a wonderfully imagined, vividly described, alternately lyrical and violent romp of a novel that should give lovers of historical…
The newest novel from one of my favorite authors, Bernard Cornwell, was released this week in the U.S. My copy arrived yesterday from Amazon and it looks fantastic. Here is an image of its very cool cover. 1356 is the latest novel to feature Thomas of Hookton, the protagonist of Cornwell’s Grail Quest Series. Thomas…
This week I finished reading Devil’s Lair by David Wisehart, a historical fantasy novel that’s part grail quest, and part return to Dante’s Inferno. It’s an engaging read, and my full review follows this image of the book’s cover. Part Grail Quest, Part Return to Dante’s Inferno. The premise of Devil’s Lair is that…
My writing odyssey with my first novel is finally nearing its end! Last July, I explained why I decided to independently publish the novel, and how I intended to do it the right way. After numerous rounds of self-editing to tighten the story and polish my writing, I hired a professional editor who was wonderful…
After a two week diversion, I’m back with the fourth post in my six part series on The Top 5 Clichés in Fantasy Fiction. On the surface, today’s cliché has Tolkien to blame. Ever since the first orc crawled out of Mordor in his 1954 novel The Fellowship of the Ring, these misshapen beasts, in…