Character sketch from The Last Seal. Sketch is by Gill Pearce of Hellion’s Art Benjamin, a Westminster school boy, is haunted by flashbacks to the night his parents died in a fire. One day, whilst playing truant, he comes […]
Richard's Ramblings
Historical Fiction and Fantasy, Young Adult Fiction, Book Reviews and ruminations on life
19
Jul
A visit to the Staffordshire Hoard
Published in Anglo Saxons, Dark Age, The Amber TreasureLast Tuesday I visited the Staffordshire Hoard exhibit at Stafford Guild Hall gallery. In 2009 a treasure hunter armed with a metal detector found a vast number (3500) of items of gold and silver in a field near Lichfield in Staffordshire, England. This hoard is the single largest collection of items from the Anglo Saxon period – […]
Tags: Staffordshire, Staffordshire Horde
17
Jul
Words of Power – sorcery in 1666
Published in richard denning, The Last SealWords of Power in the world of The Last Seal The World in The Last Seal is our world: London as it was in September 1666 but with a difference. The Last Seal is a historical […]
Tags: The Last, Words of Power
15
Jul
King James I This decade saw the country slipping more and more into a financial mess. This was due to incompetence and self serving amongst James’Â advisers. Tensions between pro catholic and pro protestant parties began to grow as well as the feeling that the King was under too much influence of a group of Catholic […]
Tags: Decade a week, King James I, The Last Seal
14
Jul
Getting Images into Kindle Books by Richard Denning So you have written your masterpiece and want to publish it to Kindle. Maybe you have done what I suggested and first got the manuscript prepared for Smashwords and uploaded it and it was approved so you are happy it all works and looks good. Smashwords will […]
13
Jul
Character sketch from The Last Seal. Sketch is by Gill Pearce of Hellion’s Art Summary: Remaining member of the Praesidum who must overcome his fears to lead Ben, Freya and Tobias in the battle against Artemas and Dantalion. More Info: Gabriel is a […]
Tags: Character Sketch, Gabriel, The Last Seal; Richard Denning
12
Jul
BOOK REVIEWS by Richard Denning This is the first of Helen Hollick’s books I have read and on the strength of it I bought book two as well as her Arthurian series. This is a fun blend of authentic historical action adventure in the pirate era – you can almost hear the rigging creak and the […]
Tags: Book Review, Helen Hollick, Sea Witch
12
Jul
Quite a lot of the writing I do mixes real history with fantasy as I enjoy that type of treatment of both genres. My novel The Last Seal is set in 1666 during the Great Fire of London but involves sorcery, secret societies and the […]
Tags: Blog Tour, Guest Post, Helen Hollick
10
Jul
The Nature of Demons in The Last Seal
Published in demons, richard denning, The Last SealThe nature of demons All races have stories of powerful and terrifying creatures which are said to be immortal and almost invincible. These ‘demons’ in some form or other pervade our folklore, enter our legends and also find their place in our religions. To the Christian church they are fallen angels; once servants of the […]
Tags: demons, The Last Seal
8
Jul
The end of the Elizabethan Age and the beginnings of the Stuart Dynasty by Richard Denning In 1600 Elizabeth, the last Tudor monarch, had been Queen for 42 years. Many in the kingdom had known no other monarch. At the height of her power during the triumph over the Spanish Armada in 1588, she had […]
Tags: Elizabeth I, James I, The Last Seal