Roma Nova - a thought experiment?

Four images of 'Roma Nova' arranged as a postcard

Travel in the mind is a very popular concept at present as the Covid-19 global pandemic has put a stop to the great flow of personal physical travel. But even before that it was an idea familiar to writers. Indeed, blogger and podcaster Joanna Penn invited me to talk about Roma Nova as a […]

Surprise and pleasure at a woman leading the action?

Recently, I attended a fair near where I live in southwest France. I chatted with local English friends, met real ones who had only been Facebook friends until then and made new ones. I had a fascinating discussion about Romans in France with a French philosophy teacher who also talked about the different English and […]

Women as heroes – what if?

All fictional characters are, er, fictional. We borrow, mine, or lift characteristics from Real Life, but unless we want to get sued, the finally moulded form is a construct. We can gender mirror (I love using that expression – also made up), we can speculate, we can imagine.

Ditto the setting. Even if your thriller […]