Author: thomasmdbrooke

Walking along the Wall and through History…

Published by

This may be my last Sunday update for a while, as I will be driving up to Northumberland next Sunday so I doubt I’ll be able to write my normal Sunday post.  I am very fortunate that my family own a small cottage up in the Nortumbrian hills, somewhere I can go to write, relax, and a be inspired. Anyone familiar with this beautiful part of England will know that Hadrian ’s Wall runs through the county.  It one of Rome’s most famous engineering projects and not only divided the British Isles but also continued to shape its history long after the Roman’s left our shores.  Would England and Scotland have developed separately without the Romans dividing their lands before either nation existed?  Who knows, but I doubt it.  Either way, it is an amazing example of their ambition, as well as their military and engineering might. George R R Martin says it was whilst visiting Hadrian’ Wall that he started to form the idea for the Wall that divided Westeros in his magnificent Game …

Transformation – Carol Berg

Published by

I’ve been looking forward to writing this about this novel because Carol Berg is one of my favourite fantasy authors, and I don’t think she gets nearly enough credit for the fantastic stories and characters she creates. I emphasise the characters, because that is the strength of Carol Berg’s writing, her characters – and as far as I am concerned, that is the secret of good writing. Carol Berg’s main character in this novel is Seyonne, a slave in the employ of Prince Aleksander, a ruler of a feudal regime that presides over an Empire that has been swallowing up neighbouring states, including Seyonne’s own sixteen years before. The past sixteen years of slavery hangs heavily on Seyonne, as he had once been a leader of his people, and now he finds himself enforced to work for Prince Aleksander as his personal secretary. The two characters couldn’t be more contrasting. Seyonne, is thoughtful, deliberate, and his moral compass remains intact despite the years of demeaning and degrading service he’d undertaken as a slave to the Empire. The …

A reminder of everything that Greece has done for us…

Published by

I certainly don’t want to join the political debate raging through Europe at the moment regarding the Greek bail-out, but I have heard a few unflattering comments regarding Greece and their contribution to the European community lately.  So I thought it only fair to remind everyone, how much we all owe to the Greeks and how their culture and ideas help shape the modern world, and that their values were the foundations upon which Western society was based. Medicine.  The ancient Greeks were the first to develop theories that could be tested by symptoms and results.  This in itself, was a massive shift forward from the previous beliefs systems held by virtually every society of the ancient world that illnesses were either punishments or gifts from their respective gods or deities.  The foundation of modern medicine, ‘cause and effect’ was born. The Greek physician Hippocrates (460 BC – 370 BC) is now considered the ‘father of modern medicine’ after he devised the ‘Hippocratic oath’ and the methodology and value system that is still in use …

Roman Mask give away! Free Roman Masks up for grabs!

Published by

To celebrate the release of my novel ‘Roman Mask’ this week, I have decided to give away three Roman masks of my own!  You can see what they look like in the picture below.  Ok, they don’t look exactly like the mask found at Kalkriese (which is the image shown on the front cover of my book) but they are close enough and are suitably dramatic, so I thought they would make a nice prize.  They are all made from paper-mache and are hand painted.  If you would like one, simply enter the words ‘Roman Mask’ in the comment field.  Next week, I will put all the names in the hat and pull three out and ask the winners to send me their address so I can send them their mask.  The offer is open to anywhere in the world providing you have a postal address I can send it to. Incidentally, if anyone is interested in seeing the original Kalkriese mask it can be viewed at the Kalkriese museum  alongside other archaeological findings from the …

‘Lion of Macedon’ and ‘Dark Prince’ by David Gemmell

Published by

Where Fantasy and History blend. For those of you looking for a comprehensive and detailed history of Ancient Greece followed by Alexander the Great’s invasion of the Persian Empire you might find this series not exactly what you were expecting.   I think when Alexander starts fighting alongside Centaurs in a parallel world, this would steer you off the path of generally accepted mainstream history taught in most universities and schools…well, at least in this world. However, that’s not the point of these novels, and as with a lot of books written by the sadly departed David Gemmell, he is fascinated by the concept of parallel lands similar to our own but imbued with magic.   This series focuses on the personalities of Alexander, his father Phillip, and in particular their General Parmenion.  It is the story of Parmenion that Gemmell’s tale is based, with him being brought up in Sparta in their fighting tradition under the harsh military regime of that land.  Any fans of the film 300 will love this part of the story as …

OUT TODAY!! Roman Mask by Thomas M D Brooke

Published by

What do we expect of our heroes? Self-sacrifice? Bravery? Strength of character? Maybe a hint of self-deprecation? Well, Cassius doesn’t have any of those traits. Cynicism – certainly. Cowardice – possibly. Prepared to live a lie in order to further his own ends – absolutely! Rome AD 9 Augustus Caesar rules Imperial Rome at the height of its power, as the Roman Empire stretches across the known world. Cassius, son of one of her most powerful families, is the personification of Rome’s imperial strength: wealthy, popular, a war hero with a decorated military career – none of Rome’s fashionable parties are complete without him – except, he hides a secret. After his nerve is broken in Germany, the thought of genuine armed combat is enough to send him into a cold sweat of fear and shame. But this doesn’t dissuade him from living off a false reputation so he can continue a life of casual affairs, wine, and parties, as he is seduced by the many vices of Rome. However his scandalous life is soon …

Apologies if I drive you all crazy tomorrow…

Published by

Ok, I better apologise in advance, because tomorrow I think I might drive everyone mad telling them about my book which comes out tomorrow!! It’s so exciting having my novel go live, so grant me this day of  blatant self-promotion! My blog will return to normal soon, where we can discuss other novels in the Historical or Fantasy genre…but tomorrow is MY DAY! Roman Mask: A fast paced action packed novel that begins in Rome AD 9, but leads to the events that will resound down in history, in the dark forests of the Teutoburg…. It’s been a long journey getting to this point, so it is wonderful to finally see it all come together.  I have loved the Historical-novel genre my entire life, so I am delighted to finally be able to contribute something to it.  It truly is a lifetime’s ambition just to get to this point, regardless of anything else that might come of this in the future. I plan to be doing lots of promotional work over the summer for Roman Mask, and …

Anthony Ryan – Blood Song. Fantasy Novel

Published by

Some schools are tough…really tough.  Those who claim that school days are the happiest of your life have forgotten the playground bully – not to mention the coterie of sycophants who normally accompany the bully on their regular round of intimidation.  However, no matter how difficult and challenging some schools are, I’m pretty sure none go quite to the extremes depicted in Anthony Ryan’s novel Blood Song, the first of the Raven Shadows series. In the Unified Realm, power is shared between the King and seven religious orders.  The Sixth of these orders, takes young boys – from every echelon of society – and teaches them to be the ultimate warrior, skilled with sword, bow, knife, or any other device designed for cutting bits off, or poking into people.  The methods they employ are so extreme that many don’t make it through their school years – a sort of Darwinian survival of the fittest played out to wheedle out those not strong enough to represent the shady ideals of the military order. The story is based …

So you want to write a novel? Historical or fantasy, the PROs and CONs

Published by

As I’ve stated in earlier posts, I think both the historical and fantasy novel have more in common than separates them.  Both appeal to readers who want to escape the modern world with all its safe structured uniformity, and be transported to another time or place where the actions the characters can make a difference and life can be exciting and have real meaning.  However there are obvious differences, and when I decided to write a novel I had to decide which way I wanted to go – historical or fantasy.  In both cases I chose historical, but don’t let that make you think it is my preference, as I genuinely love both genres (I WILL write a fantasy novel at some stage). This week I will go through the PROs and CONs of the Historical Novel, and I will follow this up next week with the PROs and CONs of the fantasy equivalent. Pro: Researching a subject to base your novel around can actually be fun.  If you’re like me, and you love history, …