Home from another fantastic Roman Festival in York, and huge thanks to everyone who made it possible - organisers, re-enactors, performers, fellow-scribes and of course to the many visitors, without whom we'd all have been very lonely. In previous years I've put up plenty of photos of men on the march, and they do look … Continue reading Eboracum 2019
Some years ago I worked for a small company where, on 23 December, the boss changed the answerphone message to explain that we'd all left early to go to the office Christmas party. Sometime in mid-February, one of us phoned in from outside and discovered that we were STILL at the office Christmas party. Which … Continue reading We are (not) at a party…
The good news: thanks to Bloomsbury's Holiday Sale, the ebook of "Medicus" is briefly and wondrously cheap in the USA right now - https://bloomsbury.com/us/medicus-9781596917743/ The not-so-good news: the series isn't in ebook at all in the UK at the moment (sigh), but it WILL be coming back. There will be music and dancing in Downie … Continue reading Good news and not-so-good news
VITA BREVIS finally makes it into paperback in the UK today (hooray!) so it seems right to mark the occasion. I can hardly have a launch party for a book that's been out in hardback and ebook for some time now, but on the other hand, unless people know it's there, who will buy it? … Continue reading Never work with children or animals.
At last! The hardback of VITA BREVIS, the story of Ruso and Tilla's trip to Rome, goes on sale in the UK tomorrow (22 September). You can read the beginning here. This publication is less nerve-wracking than usual because the book's already been released in the US and in other formats here, and I'm grateful to … Continue reading VITA BREVIS is (almost) out in the UK!
THE DRAW HAS NOW CLOSED - THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO ENTERED! The winners will be announced shortly. I'm delighted to announce that Bloomsbury are now taking over publication of all the Medicus books. This means that the first four books, originally called "Ruso and..." in the UK, will be renamed. Each book in the series … Continue reading Four free books to win! (And no cat.)
Big news in recent weeks, as Ruso and Tilla have mentioned on their Facebook page. (They must be reading my mind.) It now seems someone's found a way to read the charcoal ink on the scrolls that were burned to a crisp by Vesuvius almost 2000 years ago. There really is a chance that Herculaneum's … Continue reading The library of illegible books
The nice people at the publishers have decided that it's time to redesign the covers for the Medicus series, so we'll be raising the tone with a little classical sculpture. TABULA RASA has a view of The Weary Hercules - I'm sure that's exactly how Ruso sees himself at times - clutching the golden apples … Continue reading Judging a blog by its cover
I've just finished checking through the proofs of the next Ruso novel, TABULA RASA, which will be out in the summer. (It's set during the building of Hadrian's Wall, in case anyone's wondering.) Either Bloomsbury's typesetters are impressively accurate or I'm a rubbish proofreader, because there seemed to be hardly any typos to correct. So, … Continue reading Emergency surgery with a biro
Thank you to Charlie, who's just asked to be added to the newsletter email list if I have one. Up till now there hasn't been one, largely for reasons of technical incompetence. But a pleasingly short and simple newsletter from a writer friend dropped into the inbox this morning, and if she can do it, … Continue reading What about a newsletter?
Ruth Downie 