The AD 400s and the fall of Rome

The Roman Empire in 395 at the death of Theodosius (Map: Geuiwogbil at the English Wikipedia)

In 1984, a German academic, Alexander Demandt, published a book, Der Fall Roms, and he listed 210 reasons for the fall of Rome in the West.

Barbarians inside and outside the empire, Christianity, […]

What if Caesar wasn't assassinated?

In my new story in Fate: Tales of History, Mystery and Magic, Stannia and Federicus are ‘time-stitchers’ in a future timeline where the Roman Empire is still going strong. No, it’s not Roma Nova, but a completely made-up world.

The instigator of this short story collection, Helen Hollick, told the ten authors to let […]

Settings, settings, settings – Dresden

Dresden by night along the River Elbe Photo by Kolossos, CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Character and plot are the elements that drive a story for me, but neither can work properly without interaction with the setting in each scene. It can be weather, time of day, city, village, mountains, muddy road, […]