Escape Routes (Novel Excerpt)

This is the fourth excerpt from my upcoming novel tentatively titled “Elder Rites” which was begun on November 1st, 2020 for National Novel Writing Month and is intended to be the first volume of an as yet unnamed dark fantasy series set in a world of myth and magic which now finds itself on the

I Love Horses!

Today is “National I Love Horses Day” so I’m taking a break from working on my Camp NaNoWriMo project to express my own love of horses, which began in my early childhood—despite having never ridden one. Does a pony count? I recall a pony ride from when I was around four years old, and that’s

Camp NaNoWriMo Achievement Unlocked: Night Owl Status Restored!

I take it back, NaNoWriMo.org! I’m not sure if you fixed the problem or if it fixed itself, but this time all it took was two more updates between 10PM and midnight over the past two days to get rid of that hideous mid-day flamingo and replace it with the more sensible, refined character of

Wishing Well: An Original Fairy Tale

Today is National Tell a Fairy Tale Day, and I’ll be celebrating it by tweeting about some of my favourite fairy tales, but I also can’t resist this opportunity to share one of my own original fairy tales with you, Beloved Reader, so here’s one I wrote several years ago with the intention of self-publishing

Medieval Carpenters — A Writer’s Perspective

Bradford on Avon Tithe Barn Exterior We’re back with medieval crafts and trades this week, looking at carpenters. There have always been carpenters. Two thousand years ago, Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus, was a carpenter and there were carpenters two thousand years before him. Their craft remained unchanged for centuries. We know that carpentry […]

Medieval Monday: The Labors of October — Allison D. Reid

There is no doubt now, that fall is here. The weather is getting cooler, and the labors of summer have produced an abundant harvest. It is a time of plenty in the medieval world, albeit a cautious one. The harsh winter months are only just ahead, and what has been so carefully grown and collected […]

Tales from the Green Valley

Earlier this month I reblogged Christian Fantasy author Alison D. Reid‘s “Medieval Monday – The Labors of September” which, like many of her “Labors of the Months” posts, featured a timely episode of an excellent documentary series called Tales from the Green Valley, which I might never have known about if not for her blog.

Medieval Bills of Exchange — A Writer’s Perspective

Last week there was a question in the comments from Ellen Hawley who wanted to know how the innkeepers who stored and organised the transport of goods on behalf of merchants were paid by those merchants. I touched on this subject a bit when we were looking at how ransoms for prisoners of war were […]

English history: the yeoman — Notes from the U.K.

In the stratified world of medieval England, the yeoman was wedged into a slot between the gentry and the peasants. Then history came along and blurred the categories, leaving confusion in its wake. History will do that if you let it.  Irrelevant photo: foxglove leaves after a frost The hazy definition of a yeoman  One […]

Medieval Monday: The Labors of June — Allison D. Reid

In the Middle Ages, the arrival of June meant not only a change in the weather, but a shift in daily labors, and in what was on the menu to eat. While most crops were harvested much later in the summer, hay was the first to be cut in June, though it was typically poor […]