I’ve been reading a terrific book about the Middle Ages, recently, by an American scholar with a great sweeping view of history about the powerful influence of medievalism on the contemporary world. I’ve always found the imaginative influence of the Middle Ages captivating: Chaucer’s pilgrims, the wild behaviours of feudal lords, the gritty view of …
I wish I could say my recent hiatus from blog posting had resulted in a prodigious output in pages for my novel. Alas, nothing of the sort. I had taken time off work a few months ago that was a great boon to the novel, but my return to teaching has overwhelmed me. Not only …
At the beginning of Andrew Davidson’s book, The Gargoyle, the main character is driving along a mountain road, high on cocaine and bourbon. He has a distinct feeling that he is about to be ambushed, for some reason, and, sure enough, he sees “a volley of flaming arrows swarming out of the woods, directly at …
A couple of weeks ago, I had my trial by fire. I attended a meeting of my erstwhile writers’ group and read a passage from my novel. I had taken a few weeks off work to make some headway on the novel and I had about 40 pages of material from which to choose a …
Food is one of my favourite topics, and if I weren’t obsessing here about the Middle Ages, I’d probably be blogging about my food obsessions. Food is not really a concern in my novel (at least not at the moment), but I’ve done a little bit of reading on the topic as research. Not a …
Whan that Aprill with its shoures sote The droghte of Marche hath perced to the rote, And bathed every veyne is swich licour, Of which vertu engendred is the flour; Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth Inspired hath in every holt and heeth The tendre croppes, and the yonge …