The story behind the story
Go Set a Watchman
Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird influenced me greatly as a young reader. While Atticus was the hero of that book, I identified with young Scout, a tomboy (as I [...]
History lives aboard the North Star of Herschel Island
What would it be like to live aboard a historic arctic sailing ship? Freelance writer Bruce MacDonald wrote the book about the life and times of North Star of Herschel [...]
Roy and Lesley Adkins on Jane Austen’s World
This is the summer for Jane Austen festivals; this, the 200th anniversary of the publication of Pride and Prejudice. I'd love to attend one of these celebratory functions where I imagine [...]
A brief history of hospital ships, part 2
I became interested in the history of hospital ships and shipboard medicine while researching my historical novels, Barbados Bound and Surgeon’s Mate, that take place during Britain’s rise to naval power [...]
A brief history of hospital ships; part I
According to historian and author J. David Davies, the concept of a hospital ship was well established in 17th century Britain. During the Anglo-Dutch wars most casualties were taken ashore [...]
HMS Acasta meets Andromeda — in 1812
What happens when a character in your novel gets entangled with a character in someone else's novel -- or with a group of living history interpretors? I've been following the [...]
Naval Wives and Mistresses
During the period of time Britain claims to have ruled the seas, women played a role that has been largely overlooked or dismissed by most historians and novelists (except for [...]
a brief history of historical nautical fiction
As I prepare to take part in the Ships Ahoy! The joys and challenges of writing Nautical Historical Fiction session at the Historical Novel Conference in London, less than three [...]
Roy and Lesley Adkins, John A. Lynn, Evelyn Berekman, et al.
I get by with a little help from my friends. Thanks to Alaric Bond who sent me a list of sources (Annotated Bibliography ) from a colleague in the National Maritime Society [...]
Top 5 Titles that informed and inspired my nautical fiction
Acclaimed author and webmaster Midori Snyder is putting together a great list of sources used by the authors of Fireship Press. Over the years I have collected a boat load [...]