I’ve been away from the blog for several weeks trying hard to finish the beta draft of the sequel to Enoch’s Device. In the meantime, however, I caught the premiere episode of Knightfall on History Channel, and wanted to share a few thoughts. I was completely unaware of this new series until I saw an…
As I do each year, I’m re-publishing my post on the very first Thanksgiving. Enjoy! Growing up, I never paid much attention to the origin of Thanksgiving. Other than what I may have learned in elementary school, all I recall knowing was that it was a feast between the Pilgrims and the Native Americans sometime after the Mayflower landed…
While I’ve been reading more medieval mysteries these days, I always go back to Dan Brown whenever one of his books comes out. He’s the godfather of the religious thriller, and while we write in somewhat different genres, I’ve always admired his mastery of pacing and building puzzle-like plots. His latest novel is titled Origin,…
This week, I’m focusing on mythology – Norse mythology to be precise, the subject of the latest installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor: Ragnarok. While the movie does not even attempt to stay true to actual mythology, Neil Gaiman does in his latest release aptly titled Norse Mythology. Here’s my review. Anyone who has…
Many believe the old Celtic festival of Samhain became the inspiration for Halloween. With that in mind, you have to love this quote about Samhain from the opening of Bernard Cornwell’s Enemy of God … Today I have been thinking about the dead. This is the last day of the old year. The bracken on the hill…
Recently, I started reading more medieval mysteries, and I’m truly enjoying them. These are pure mystery tales like the stories of Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot, except set during the Middle Ages. And this week’s mystery, The Red Hill by David Penny, is among the best I’ve read so far. Set in the fifteenth century,…
It look longer than I had hoped, but I finished reading The Flame Bearer, the latest installment in Bernard Conwell’s excellent Saxon Tales series about the founding of the kingdom of England in the early tenth century. Here’s my review. For ten novels – that’s right, ten – we’ve been waiting for Uhtred to reclaim…
As I edit away on my next novel, I have a suggestion for anyone suffering withdrawals since the season end of Game of Thrones: Watch a show about the War of the Roses, history’s real life game of thrones. It’s been well publicized that the historical War of the Roses helped inspire George R.R. Martin’s…
It’s been a few weeks since my last post because I needed a short break from the blog after the season’s end of Game of Thrones. Fortunately, I spent what little time I had working on other things. It looks a bit more dogeared now, but I’m nearing the end of my edit to the sequel…
Last Sunday’s finale of Game of Thrones provided a satisfying conclusion to the show’s penultimate season. But now that it’s over, what’s left? Only six more episodes. The Board is Set for the Series Finale Every storyline from Season 7 was wrapped up in “The Dragon and the Wolf,” and the game board is set for…
If you’ve been reading the recaps and reviews on the net about last Sunday’s episode of Game of Thrones, it’s a seriously mixed bag. Even those who liked it had significant gripes. It wasn’t the perfect episode, but I’m surprised at the amount of ire it seems to have stirred. So, as a longtime lawyer,…