Author: navalairhistory
-
Writing the landscape
I’ve always been fascinated by landscape, and that fascination has shaped my identity as a writer. Ironically – or perhaps inevitably – I grew up somewhere with a particular kind of landscape that some people think of as no landscape at all. The flat expanses of North Essex do not share the character of the…
-
Sailing aboard a square-rigger – the stuff tales are spun from
Call me Ishmael. Some years ago – never mind how long precisely – having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the…
-
Eighteen-eighty – Fiction
Last night I dreamt of 1880. I know why. They’d been taking pieces of me away. 1880 was when I lost the biggest piece. Not mast, or keel, or frame – they can be replaced. 1880 was when I lost my Captain. In truth I don’t know where I end or they begin. I feel…
-
The Bishop and the Crystal – fiction
Vanity, saith the preacher, vanity! These were the vaunted last words of my uncle, the bishop, though I’ truth he said more, it seemed meet to leave his worldly utterances here. As he himself was unclear at the end whether he was alive or dead, who was I to draw the line at the arbitrary…
-
The Once And Future Arthur
It wasn’t a conscious decision that both my stories in the anthology A Seeming Glass were based on reworkings of Arthurian legend. Neither could it said to be entirely coincidental. When it comes to new visions of old stories, King Arthur and the ‘Matter of Britain’ has been at it longer than most. Almost everything…
-
Stealing the editor’s chair
My co-editor JA Ironside has already given a fascinating account of the process of editing the anthology A Seeming Glass on her blog here, so I shan’t go over ground she has so ably covered. That said, I thought it might be interesting to add my perspective on how this collection of stories came into…
-
New anthology – A Seeming Glass
The anthology of short stories I have co-edited with J.A. Ironside will be published on 7 August A Seeming Glass – A Collection of Reflected Tales ‘How can I read the futures if I cannot see your skin?’ Six mysterious swans glide on a holographic pond in a totalitarian capital city. A terrified girl awaits…
-
A longlisting, and a new collection
A project I have been working on for some time with a group of very talented writers is nearing readiness, and the time has arrived where we can come out of the closet. A Seeming Glass – A collection of Reflected Tales, by the Random Writers, will soon be available. I think, even though I…
-
The frigate in literature
A little while ago someone asked me what kind of ship a frigate was. When you’re as immersed in naval culture and terminology as you become when writing a novel on the subject, it’s easy to lose track of terms that many people might not be familiar with. These aren’t necessarily things you need to…
-
The last voyage of the City of Adelaide
The age of sail has inspired a canon of literature which is far more than just an adjunct of historical fiction. At the heart of this are the ships themselves with their clouds of canvas, evoking romance and hardship in roughly equal measure. Few vessels can be as romantic as the clipper ships of the…
Air and Sea Stories 
You must be logged in to post a comment.