My Travel Year: A Look Back and a Look Forward

This past year has been pretty good for travel with me. I went to Egypt twice, spending a total of six weeks there to start my Masked Man of Cairo neo-pulp detective series. I made some great friends, explored Cairo more thoroughly than I did when I was first there way back in 1991, and got to see the pyramids again. Always a plus! I also had an all-too-brief trip to Tangier. I've been to that city a dozen times now and it still relaxes me. It's a quick and cheap getaway from Madrid, being only an hour's flight away, and I always seem to get a lot of writing done. You see, I hardly ever go on a real vacation. All my trips are work trips but enjoyable anyway. As usual, my family and I spent Easter and the summer in Oxford as we do every year. I get lots of research done at the university library.

So what's in store for 2018? More Egypt, certainly, and perhaps a trip to Fez, a fascinating Moroccan city I still haven't explored. For Egypt I intend to go to the western oases, which I have never seen, and perhaps up the river again to revisit the sites around Luxor and Aswan. There will be the usual trips to England and around Spain, and perhaps a few other short trips. One trip I and my family would like to do is a visit to Paris. A good friend lives there and my son is taking French in school, so he can be our translator. And who knows what else 2018 will throw at me? We shall see.

Military History Photo Friday: World War One Medals and Mementoes

Hello from Oxford! I'm here for my usual research trip, and as a matter of fact this is my tenth year. It's been a rainy summer so I haven't gotten to explore much of the countryside like I usually do. Luckily last weekend the clouds cleared and my family and I went on a hike to visit Minster Lovell, a fine old ruin of a medieval manor. Follow the link for an article I did on it.

We set out from the small town of Whitney, which has a fine little local history museum. Here are a couple of shots from the World War One section. I've always enjoyed small-town museums since the collection comes from old neighbors instead of some rich patron. I wonder who donated these?

Leaving for Oxford

It's time for our biannual research trip to Oxford! We're there every Easter and summer. As usual I'll be researching in the Bodleian Library, one of the greatest libraries in the world, and doing a variety of freelance projects as well as my own stuff. I'm planning a few trips to London and the countryside, so there should be some nice pics coming up here and on my Instagram account.

And just a reminder, my post-apocalyptic novel Radio Hope is still just 99 cents through July 19 on all the Amazons!

Military History Photo Friday: Roman Warship Ram

I haven't blogged in a while because I've been up in Oxford for my usual summer research and writing trip. Besides that, I've been hiking and visiting museums. The best exhibition of the summer is certainly the Ashmolean Museum's Storms, War & Shipwrecks Treasures from the Sicilian Seas, which I've written up for Black Gate. This show looks at the amazing finds from more than a dozen shipwrecks around Sicily.

One of the more unusual displays shows three warship rams from the Battle of the Egadi Islands, fought between the Roman and Carthaginian navies in 241 BC. It was the final battle of the First Punic War and an important Roman victory. A fleet of 200 Roman warships ambushed a convoy of 250 heavily laden Carthaginian warships. The Romans sunk 50 ships and captured 70, while losing only 30 of their own. They seized control of Sicily and began to dominate the Mediterranean. Of course it would take two more Punic Wars before the Romans vanquished their rivals once and for all.

The ram shown here once adorned the prow of a Roman warship. You can just see on the top a decoration in the form of a helmet. The spiky bits would have been just below the waterline and apparently they made a direct hit on some poor Carthaginian vessel, because a chunk of wood is still stuck in the bottom groove!

Check out my article for more on this great exhibition. I blog on Black Gate every Wednesday.

Travel Tuesday: A Rare Sunny Autumn Day in Oxford

Last week my wife and I were up in Oxford. She had to give a colloquium at the university and I did some research at the Bodleian Library. It being November, of course it was cloudy and rainy almost every day. For the first few hours of our first day, however, the sun shone and the city was beautiful. We took the opportunity to walk through Christchurch Meadows, a stretch of land owned by one of the historic colleges on the river. Along this part of the river the various colleges keep their boat houses and rowing teams practice in the water. The photos are all hers. Enjoy!

Photos copyright Almudena Alonso-Herrero.

Travel Tuesday: Researching at the Bodleian Library, Oxford

I just finished my usual summer research trip to Oxford. Most days I'm in the Bodleian Library. This library dates back to the Middle Ages and is a copyright library, meaning it tries to have a copy of every book published in the UK. Needless to say, it's a good source for research!

The above photo shows the Duke Humfrey's Library. It's the oldest reading room in the library and was completed in 1487, although most of the decoration is from the early 17th century. Most of the shelves contain rare books, many in Latin, that I don't need. I do sit here to work sometimes, though, because, well, just look at it!

This is the Divinity School, completed in 1488 and originally used for theology classes. Now it's rarely used except for some formal functions. Pity, they should fill it with books and let me work in there!

On normal days I'm in the Upper Reading room, usually at this very corner. It's got more normal surroundings, which are less distracting. That strip of painting on the top dates from the 16th century, though, and the views out the window of Oxford's "dreaming spires" occasionally draws my eyes away from my books. 

Photos courtesy Wikimedia Commons, because I never got around to bringing my camera to work!

Enjoying an Oxford Summer

I'm nearing the end of my usual summer of research/writing/relaxing in Oxford. Weather-wise, this has been a nonsummer in the UK, with cool temperatures and way too many clouds. Like the English, we take advantage of any good weather we get and immediately head outdoors. This shot of the River Isis (the local name for the Thames) was taken on a walk to the medieval church of St. Margaret’s and its holy well. I also celebrated turning halfway to 92 with a medieval birthday cake. Click the links for the posts I wrote about this for Black Gate.

In writing news, I'm doing the final edits on We Had Flags, the third novel in my post-apocalyptic Toxic World series. It will come out in September. I'm also moving along in No Man's Land, the third in my Trench Raiders series.With all this bad weather, I've been doing more than my usual hiding in the Oxford University library researching and writing!

How has everyone else's summer been?

Back from Eastercon!

I've been a bit silent of late, and that's because I was up in Oxford for my usual research/relaxation trip over Easter. In addition to seeing friends and burying myself in the Bodleian Library like I always do, I also attended Eastercon.

This is an annual science fiction convention in the UK. There were heaps of events and signings, plus lots of panels. I was on a panel about asymmetric warfare that was well attended, although not as well attended as the Real Ale bar! You can read my con report here.

Anyway, I'm back and excited to be finishing up We Had Flags, book three of my Toxic World series. There will be more posts up here too.

My Travel Year: A Look Back And A Look Forward

As my regular readers know, I'm an avid traveler. Living in Madrid makes it easier, but various things have kept me from doing much travel this year. I have three main threads in my writing career--travel, history, and fiction. For the past ten years all three have had their ups and downs, and in 2014 travel writing was definitely in a down.

The year started well with trips to Tangier and Belgium. Then the travel assignments dried up and besides our usual family trips to Oxford, there wasn't much of anything. I did manage to slip in two more trips to Tangier, but that's it. This is the first year that I can remember where I didn't go to a new country. I'll have to remedy that in 2015. Call it a New Year's resolution.

So where could I go? I recently discovered there's regular flights from Madrid to Algiers, so that's a possibility if I could drum up some freelance. Hungary and Egypt are also possibilities. I'm sure my career will throw me some curveballs as usual, so who knows where I might end up?!

Dinosaurs and weird cures at the Oxfordshire Museum

"Physicians agree" this steam bath cabinet is absolutely safe and good for the health!

I may be back in Spain, but I still have plenty of photos from England to share with you! In our last week in England we went to Woodstock, Oxfordshire, to visit the newly opened Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum. I'm pitching that story to a magazine, so I'll keep those photos for a while Instead here are some shots of the Oxfordshire Museum, a local history museum next door.
Jump the cut for more photos!

Remembering the World War One Centenary

On this date in 1914, the British Empire declared war on Germany, bringing it into the First World War. Fighting had already started, of course. Austria-Hungary had declared war on Serbia for its part of the assassination of Franz Ferdinand. This led to Russia declaring war on Austria-Hungary, causing Germany to declare was on Russia, bringing Russia's ally France into the fray. Germany then infamously decided to attack France by going through neutral Belgium, bringing the British in to the war.

I'm in Oxford right now and it seems every church is having a ceremony today. At my local church in Iffley I came across this memorial. One name, that of R.W. Pepys, caught my eye. I've been reading the regimental history of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, and it mentioned that a descendant of the famous diarist Samuel Pepys was in the regiment. I hadn't read that he had been killed , however, so seeing this monument was a bit of a shock.

I then checked in the regimental history and found in fact there were two men with the last name Pepys in the regiment. The other was Second Lieutenant Francis Pepys, who was also killed in the war.

Post-Apocalyptic A to Z: Quick update on my writing

I'm guilty of being a letter behind on the A to Z Challenge, but I plead Innocent Due To Writing! Just last week I finished the next book in my post-apocalyptic Toxic World series, titled Refugees from the Righteous Horde, which is book two after Radio Hope. At the same time I was promoting a free giveaway of my short story The Scavenger. I'll be writing an article about my experiences and what I learned doing this in the next week or so.

Right now I'm chilling out in Oxford on my usual Easter working vacation. I'm taking some time off the apocalypse to research a series called Trench Raiders, which will be a line of action books set in World War One. I'm also doing a bit of travel writing, so if I'm a bit slow with the A to Z over the next two weeks, it's because of a marginal case of burnout.

I hope there's coffee in the apocalypse. . .

Armies of the Adowa Campaign: a sneak peak at my next book

Sorry for my silence on this blog. I've been busy getting another blog about my Civil War novel up and running. I'm happy to say it hasn't even been a month but I already have nine followers and more than 1,100 hits! Here's hoping that my novel, A Fine Likeness, will be equally successful once it comes out in September.

My family and I are in Oxford for our customary summer of research, hiking, and seeing old friends. As usual, I popped into the offices of Osprey Publishing and chatted with the editors about my current projects and possible future ones. I also got an advance copy of Armies of the Adowa Campaign.

The folks at Osprey did their usual awesome job with the layout and the maps. I also have to tip my hat to Raffaele Ruggeri for his excellent and precise illustrations. When I was researching the book and assembling instructions for the as-yet-unassigned artist, one of my main sources for Italian uniforms was a book Mr. Ruggeri illustrated. I was very happy to hear he was taking the project. It made my instructions almost unnecessary!

The book includes almost fifty rare photographs from the Italian archives, and some of my own photos I took while exploring the battlefield.

For more on this project, check out two posts I did for the Osprey blog. Part one was about researching in Ethiopia, and part two was about researching in Rome. Check them out for insights into the ups and downs (and even dangers) of researching military history!

The Library of Forgotten Books

Shuffling between my two home bases in Oxford and Madrid last week I had a couple of hours to kill at Gatwick airport. It being past noon, I decided to spend them in the airport's pub, The Flying Horse, enjoying a last couple of pints of English real ale.

Airport pubs are soulless places, but the management at the The Flying Horse has tried to make it homey by installing big bookshelves stuffed with volumes of an age suitable for the faux country mansion decor of cheap wood paneling, dark carpet, and dim lighting.

Studying the titles I had to wonder when the last of them was read. They all seemed to be unknowns that passed into obscurity in the first month they were published. How many people really read A Girl and Her Ways by Amy Le Feuvre or Edward Henry Bickersteth by F.K. Aglianby? Did Hine's Relics of an Uncommon Attorney earn out its advance? The Six Proud Walkers almost got me with the title, but sorry F. Beedin, I prefer to hike alone.

The only familiar face in this crowd of strangers was War and Peace--in an edition old enough to be tattered but recent enough to be of no value. And it was in Russian. And only volumes three and four.

I can't decide how I feel about books being demoted to mere decoration. On the one hand, it's demeaning to the dreams of hundreds of struggling authors. They're all almost certainly dead, so I guess that's a relief. On the other hand, their only other destination would have been the rubbish skip. If books can still provide the atmosphere of refinement, don't they still have a value?

I wonder if my son will walk into an airport pub seventy years from now and see one of my own titles being used to line the walls.

Photo friday: The Bodleian Library

Welcome to Photo Friday! I've been in Oxford for the past week and when I haven't been playing in the park with my kid or sampling real ale in Oxford's many fine pubs (including my local) I've been doing research in the Bodleian Library. The oldest parts of this library date from medieval times and there's some splendid architecture.

The photo shows the Tower of the Five Orders, finished 1619, and is the main street entrance. Its name comes from the five orders of columns on its facade: Doric, Tuscan, Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite. I like having a nice place to work, but the views can be a bit distracting so I tend to sit away from the windows!

From Oxford to Rome

I've just enjoyed my last day in Oxford. We come up here every summer for research and it's always a great time. I mean, just look at this photo. This is where I work when I'm in town. Now I'm exchanging the Dreaming Spires for the Eternal City, the Isis for the Tiber. That's right, I'm headed for Rome!

I'll be in Rome next week to do some research on the Adowa campaign, Italy's failed attempt to subjugate Ethiopia in 1896. Earlier this year I went on a trip to Ethiopia to do some on-site research. Now I'm going to get the Italian side of the story by digging into their military archives. A couple of Italian historians will be meeting me to offer advice and show me around a bit.

This is the first time I've been to Italy, making this the third new country I've visited this year after Ethiopia and Somaliland. I won't have too much time for sightseeing although I'm planning a short series for Gadling. Actually I find not having much time rather liberating. It frees me from seeing all the things "I have to see" and allows me to see whatever the hell I want!

Anyway, I may be a bit sporadic for the next few days. When I get back I'll be sure to treat you to good photos and anecdotes. Ciao!

Inspiration on the street

I'm in Oxford for the summer, and there's no town with more eccentrics than this one. Blame it on the medieval university and the good beer. The frequent public displays of affectation make great material for fictional characters.

Take last week, for instance. I'm walking to the pub and I glance into the traffic on Iffley Road. The passenger in the car nearest me is an old man in a tweed jacket and Sherlock Holmes hat, with ginger sideburns and handlebar moustache. Not too crazy by Oxford standards. Next to him, however, is a Muslim woman driving a purple VW Rabbit. She's wearing a purple headscarf and the car has purple upholstery and the back seat is covered in purple cushions. Muslim bling! A few minutes later I see a ten-year-old black boy with a Mohawk going to a wedding wearing a three-piece suit.

Fodder for characters? Oh yes, but watching the crowd for material isn't always a good thing. I was doing research in the Bodleian Library the other day and the old professor across from me was picking his nose! Imagine, some learned academic digging into his nostril with his finger up to the third knuckle before removing it and thoughtfully stroking his beard.

Then there was the public bathroom with the dirty underwear sitting on top of the urinal.

You can have those last two vignettes. I'm not going to use them. I don't write that kind of fiction. :-)


Image of nose picker courtesy Carlos Paes via Wikimedia Commons. Yes, you can find anything on that site.