My Husband: The Extraordinary History of Nicholas Brome
Inspired by real bloodstains and from detailed research comes a refreshingly different historical romance between a god-fearing woman and a known murderer.
Creating the Vikingverse – An Interview with Ian Stuart Sharpe
What if the Norse religion of the Vikings had overcome Christianity? That is one of the questions Ian Stuart Sharpe explores in his debut novel, The All Father Paradox.
Medieval Reads: Henry Treece’s Viking’s Dawn
I shall explore in this column is how each writer creates their particular Middle Ages and how that Middle Ages works at story feel.
Built on a True Dream: The Medieval Church and Its Representation in Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth
This thesis aims to illustrate the way in which Follett has depicted the medieval Church of the twelfth century and answer the question of whether this depiction is a historical accurate representation.
Y Gododdin, the Votadini and Arthurian Legend
Chances are good that unless you’re a scholar of Welsh literature, Arthurian legend, or early Scottish history, you’ve never heard of a Welsh poem called “Y Gododdin” (“The Gododdin,” in English).
Book Reviews: Medieval Studies and the Ghost Stories of M. R. James / Four Ghost Stories
Medieval historians know M.R. James primarily as the compiler of many catalogues of Cambridge manuscripts and as the translator of New Testament apocrypha, but he was also the author of several collections of ghost stories
For the want of Emma: What if the Vikings had won the Battle of Stamford Bridge?
If you could alter history, change one subtle event, what would you pick? For a Viking fan, the answer might be as simple as it is iconic.
Glass Island, by Gareth Griffith
Read an excerpt from Glass Island, a debut novel by Gareth Griffith, set in 6th century Britain.
Reading Recommendations for a Marvellous Medieval Summer
In preparation for summer reading, Natalie Anderson shares some of her favourite works of medieval historical fiction.
The Medieval History of the Tower of London
Popular author and historian Toni Mount explores the fascinating history of the Tower of London in honour of her latest medieval murder mystery, The Colour of Murder.
Our Future is Our Past: Corporate Medievalism in Dystopian Fiction
Predictions of a return to the past have also inspired the dystopian visions of Octavia Butler’s Earthseed duology, Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake duology, and Suzanne Collins’s Hunger Games trilogy
M.R. James: The Medievalist that Turned Ghost Storyteller
As a scholar in Medieval Studies M. R. James published countless works on medieval manuscripts and church history, but, perhaps most of all to his surprise, he is better known today for his ghost stories.
From Academic Article to Fantasy Novel: Medieval Alchemy and The Alchemists’ Council
Cynthea Masson speaks about the relationship between her academic study of alchemy and the writing of her 2016 novel, “The Alchemists’ Council.”
Book Review: The Mortecarni
Are you a horror fan looking for something different to shake up your reading list? Kelly Evans might have just what you’re looking for in her latest novel, ‘The Mortecarni’, a medieval zombie mash up set around the time of the Black Death.
New Medieval Books: Historical Fiction
Escape this summer to the Middle Ages with these five historical fiction novels…
Book Talk: A Conversation with Guy Gavriel Kay
Set in a parallel Renaissance world, two major religions, the Jaddites who worship the sun, and the Asharites who worship the stars, struggle amidst the backdrop of court politics, murder, espionage, faith and family.
BOOK REVIEW: Children of Earth and Sky – Guy Gavriel Kay
BOOK REVIEW: Children of Earth and Sky – Guy Gavriel Kay
BOOK REVIEW: The Northern Queen by Kelly Evans
Kelly Evans’Anglo-Saxon novel centres around the story of Aelfgifu of Northampton (990-1040); from her rise in court and eventual marriage to one of England’s most famous early kings, Cnut the Great (995-1035), to her repudiation, and later life with her sons after Cnut’s passing.
Umberto Eco and the Meaning of the Middle Ages
The narrative frame around Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose, which intricately removes the story itself from its ultimate reader by insinuating long journeys, lost manuscripts, and various narrative intermediaries between text and recipient, also establishes a chain of connection between the late medieval murder mystery itself and its modern retelling, thus bringing the Middle Ages into present-day reality and vice-versa
Almost a Millennium, by Jeanbill
Almost a Millennium, by Jeanbill, is an eclectic novel about the unlikely connection between an English monk and an American physician that lived nearly 1,000 years apart, one of today and one in the medieval period.
BOOK REVIEW: Grendel’s Mother: The Saga of the Wyrd-Wife by Susan Signe Morrison
Grendel’s Mother tells the story of Brimhild, a child found abandoned in a boat on the shores of Denmark. Taken in by a…
BOOK REVIEW: The Butcher Bird by SD Sykes
My review of SD Sykes follow up to “Plague Land”, her latest book, “The Butcher Bird”.
BOOK REVIEW: The Lady Agnes Mystery – Volume I
A review of the Lady Agnes Mystery by Parisienne author, Andrea Japp.
Books – Conquests: Hearts Rule Kingdoms by Emily Murdoch
A look at author Emily Murdoch’s book, Conquests, from her series, ‘Conquered Hearts’