What I'm up to at the moment

Hello all,

I'm back after a long break from blogging, well, using social media in general. I've recently managed to get internet access at home, which is nice.

I've been keeping myself very busy. If you take a look at the 'About the Author' page and the description under the title, you will see a brief desciption of some of the projects that I've taken on.

Over the last few months, I have been putting a lot of time into researching a series of stories set during the English Civil War. I have a few friends that have been very helpful in this regard. To them, I give my greatest thanks. Because of them, I have invested in a membership with the Sealed Knot, a group of English Civil War battle re-enactors - one of the biggest in Britain in fact. Though, every time I tell a friend that I've joined up, they do think I've joined a group of super-villains that could rival the Guild of Calamitous Intent.
 

Ironsides Cavarly, the Sealed Knot

A couple from the Sealed Knot

Royalist Cavalry Commander

Something that's also been very useful have been the Osprey Publishing series of books on the matter. They're written by experts, and illustrated by professionals. The books are short in length, but there are many covering different aspects of the conflict.
 

The English Civil War by Osprey

Cavalry of the English Civil War by Osprey

Scots Armies of the Civil War

Then, there is also the British Civil War Project website. This has easy to read articles about every single part of the English Civil War, including the many factors - like the Bishop Wars - that built up to this great war that decimated Britain and saw radical reforms in the way Christianity was worshipped, government, civil rights, monarchy and the military. The site also covers all that's known about the regiments that fought during the conflict, biographies of famous people that were involved as well as pieces on the aftermath with the Commonwealth, Cromwell's Protectorate and the Restoration of the Monachy. There are also bits on political and religious movements that statrted up during the war like the Quakers and the Levellers - the group that the band were named after.
 

The Sealed Knot normally use real gunpowder in their muskets

Pike push

"Fire on my command!"

Of course, for the film buffs, helping me to gauge quite what the English Civil War might actually have looked like, there are the films: The Spanish Musketeer (though not strictly an English Civil War film, its set on the continent during the same period), Cromwell, A Field In England and Witchfinder General.

The Spanish Musketeer

Cromwell, English Civil War film

A Field in England, an English Civil War film

Witchfinder General with Vincent Price

I've found this a very rich period to pick through. To be honest, it astonished me how few novels and films there were about the English Civil War. I counted a grand total of twelve novels, one short story and three films set specifically during the English Civil War. A friend posited that this was perhaps because alot of folk may think that the English Civil War is an extension of the Tudor Period, or that the conflict is overshadowed by the Great Fire of London.

With all this in mind, I've a series of novels and short stories planned, real rip-roaring, swash- buckling action adventures that I hope will shed light on what living through the tumultuous period would have felt like. And, I hope you can tell from some of the photos that I've uploaded to the post, I'm going to have real fun writing about the period of the English Civil War!

Muskets also made brilliant clubs

Musketeers mustered into formation before battle

On the March to battle.