Blades and Banter, the postscript

Posted on by Ruth

Big thanks to everyone who joined us yesterday evening! It was a privilege to be invited into your computer screens and I hope you enjoyed it. When I finally worked out how to read the comments, they were a delight. Hopefully nobody ran screaming from the room at the gory bits (unfortunately when you let … Continue reading Blades and Banter, the postscript

They’re back! A new MEDICUS novella on 9 July

Posted on by Ruth
Cover of PRIMA FACIE Mosaic of lovers in bath house

Many thanks to the patient friends of Ruso and Tilla who've been in touch to ask how - and indeed what - they're doing. Occasionally I get emails asking what happened in between the novels. Usually the answer is 'not much', which is why there isn't a book about it. However... some people wondered whether … Continue reading They’re back! A new MEDICUS novella on 9 July

Wide-eyed in the Big City – visiting Roman London

Posted on by Ruth

Two trips to London since Christmas! Back in February I meant to do a blog post about seeing some of the Roman writing tablets found on the Bloomberg HQ site, but never quite got around to it. Besides, there were no pictures: perhaps to avoid fisticuffs around the display tables, it was a no-photography event. … Continue reading Wide-eyed in the Big City – visiting Roman London

Sunday on the blog tour – SJA Turney, plus a brief diversion

Posted on by Ruth

  Today I'm visiting The Worlds of SJA Turney. Simon was one of the co-conspirators on our book about the Boudiccan rebellion, A Year of Ravens, but there are no rebel queens in this piece - I've been pondering the difference between writing about Roman Britain and writing about Rome itself. Not content with living … Continue reading Sunday on the blog tour – SJA Turney, plus a brief diversion

“We have to hope that our characters will forgive us…”

Posted on by Ruth

"...because we're doing the best that we can." Margaret George, Historical Novel Society conference, 2016. I've never been to the Historical Novel Society conference before, but after last weekend I'm wondering why. It was splendid. If you want to read a well thought-out blog piece about it, there's one in the Times Literary Supplement. If … Continue reading “We have to hope that our characters will forgive us…”

Blog tour: My writing process

Posted on by Ruth

Thanks to Judi Moore, multi-talented author of “Is death really necessary?” for inviting me to join the blog tour that hunts out the answers to four questions. Mercifully, "Is death really necessary?" isn't one of them. Judi’s answers can be found here.  Mine are below. I'm charged with handing on the baton, and have contacted … Continue reading Blog tour: My writing process

Emergency surgery with a biro

Posted on by Ruth

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

Writing – a spectator sport ?

Posted on by Ruth

A friend recently sent me this link to news of MASTERPIECE, a “reality show for writers” soon to be broadcast on Italian television. I read the article with mounting amazement, wondering, who on earth would go in for something like that?  And then I remembered. It started with a conversation over the wine and peanuts … Continue reading Writing – a spectator sport ?

Fiction and Fakery

Posted on by Ruth

I was going to start this post with the Goebbels quote, "The bigger the lie, the more it will be believed." Unfortunately it turns out that Goebbels probably never said it. According to this site, what he actually said was, "The English follow the principle that when one lies, one should lie big, and stick … Continue reading Fiction and Fakery