A trip to Mel's Dresden

Alison Morton and Anna Belfrage at the Basteibrücke

Schloßstraße, Dresden

Earlier in June, I waxed lyrical about Dresden in southeast Germany which was the scene for several chapters in my latest thriller Double Stakes. Never having been there, I had written heroine Mel and hero Jeff’s scenes using Google Maps.

What a shocking admission!

Moving a character through a place needs […]

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 […]