The Anarchy

History offers so many fascinating true stories for a historical novelist to wind in with the fiction. I have just completed revisions to the manuscript of my final novel in the Conquest series on the life of the 12th century Welsh princess, Nest ferch Rhys. Some of the true bits in the new novel, The Anarchy, include…

Big small things

I have arrived in Madrid to work for a month in the art and ecology Microhabitable project, focused on issues of scale. My residency is hosted by Matadero Madrid who are co-organising Microhabitable with INLAND and the Serpentine Galleries.  I’m interested in entanglement and in the macrocosmic cycles of water and life and decomposition, which…

The Garden of Earthly Delights

I am starting an artist’s residency next week at Matadero in Madrid as part of the Microhabitable project, co-organised with Serpentine Galleries and INLAND. I’m intending to explore human and non-human entanglements through twitter fiction and a publication.  I will build on my previous published and installed texts – Meanda, The Water Age, Ink Tourettes. I’m interested to…

Publication Day! The Water Age

My new books The Water Age 1, 2, 3 are published today by Meanda Books. The Water Age & Other Fictions is a collection of short future fictions. ‘Meanda’ takes place on an ocean exoplanet. ‘Asbrú’ tangles in the fronds of Icelandic algae. Other stories explore slime technologies. These fictions are spawned by aquatic flora and fauna, such…

Spies and intrigues in the 12th century

I am currently hard at work on the final book in my Conquest series about the Welsh and the Normans in the 12th century. The trilogy is centred on the life of Nest ferch Rhys, the daughter of the last Welsh king of the south-west kingdom of Deheubarth. The final book is called The Anarchy and will…

Welsh goldmine

Researching royal bastards, medieval Welsh noblewomen and Welsh gold at the British Library this week for the final book in my Welsh Conquest trilogy. The Anarchy – coming soon. See Impress Books.

The Water Age – 3 new books

Coming soon:   Octavio Paz meets J.G. Ballard meets David Attenborough in these suspenseful, lyrical tales of hybrid species and aqua technologies. ‘Meanda’ takes place on an ocean exoplanet. ‘Asbrú’ tangles in the fronds of Icelandic algae. Other stories explore slime technologies. These fictions are spawned by aquatic flora and fauna, such as spitting fish, inking squids and…

The Water Age – 3 new books for 2018

I have established a publishing imprint called Meanda Books to publish the three small books that are the outcome of my work in the Frontiers in Retreat art and ecology project. The books will be published in July. An expression of interest form is at the bottom of this post. The books are:    …

Author’s Inspiration

My post on writing historical fiction, and especially the Conquest trilogy, is published today on Mary Anne Yarde’s Blogpost. (Image above is Fontevraud Abbey, which is where part of the second book, The Drowned Court, is set.)

Second-career writer

This medieval village and castle in the Tarn Valley in southern France was where I was first prompted to start writing historical fiction. A guest post by me charting my mid-life switch from academic to novelist has been published today on M.K. Tod’s A Writer of History blog.