James Calbraith's Blog, page 2

An old tavern on the Rhine.

While travelling around Europe, there are several ways one can immerse oneself in the remains of everyday life of Ancient Rome. The most obvious is to go to Pompeii – or one of the less well-known excavated cities like Italica near Seville or Ostia near Rome. But however well-preserved these ruins might be, they will […]

The treasure of Tournai

In 1653, in a small Wallonian town of Tournai, builders excavating a cellar at the back of Saint Bryce’s church, across the river from the ancient city centre, came upon an immense hoard of gold, jewels and other treasure – among them, still resting on the finger bones of the individual buried with this unbelievable […]

New Pre-order! What, already? Yes!

But it’s only been a week since “The Shieldmaiden’s Pride” Release! Sure, I hear you. However! The writing on “The Shieldmaiden’s Honour” has been going so well – so far – that I can already announce the pre-order going live today, as an Amazon exclusive. The tentative release date is December, which should give me […]

The Shieldmaiden’s Pride – Release Day!

The third trilogy in the Song of Britannia saga – Madron’s story starts here! Madron knows she’s destined to fame and renown. In her veins runs the blood of Wortigern, the great Dux of the eastern Britons, and of Eobba, the mighty warchief of the Iutes. Wars have been fought for her hand. Her union with the western Dux’s son brought peace […]

The Shieldmaiden’s Pride – locations

It’s two weeks until release of “The Shieldmaiden’s Pride” – the adventures of a young half-Iute girl in eastern Britannia at the fall of the Empire… It’s been a while since I spent such a significant amount of story time in Londin and its immediate neighbourhood. All the familiar places and faces are coming back […]

The Shieldmaiden’s Pride – Map Reveal

“The Shieldmaiden’s Pride” – Book One of the new trilogy, The Song of Madron – is now in the final editing and proofreading stages, with the release scheduled for July 1st – but I can’t wait to show off the maps that will be in the book. Keen-eyed readers will recognise I used one of […]

The Villas of Song of Britain

In “The Shieldmaiden’s Pride”, the story returns to mainland Britain, as seen by the natives of this land. The characters journey through the island, from hillfort to fortress, from town to villa – so it’s a good moment to run through some of the real-life villas of Roman Britain that have popped up throughout the […]

PRE-ORDER LAUNCH: THE SHIELDMAIDEN’S PRIDE!

Today’s the day! When I first started jotting down plot ideas for this book, the main event in the news was the refugee problem on the Polish border, so I set up some of the plot around refugees fleeing from a distant conflict. Little could I suspect that by the time I start writing the […]

The Song of Madron, Book One – Cover Reveal

These are not easy times, for anyone. But somehow, between bouts of plague, frantically refreshing Twitter for news of war, and general mental chaos of it all, I’m managing to keep only a month behind shedule for the next book. I’m hoping to put a pre-order in motion in a week or so – so […]

Christmas Gifts – New Release, Promo and more!

“The Crown of the Iutes” release – ebook and paperback A thrilling conclusion to the Song of Octa trilogy! In the ten years since Octa’s return from Wened, the Kingdom of Iutes has thrived, under the wise and peaceful rule of his father, Rex Aeric. But now, new threats are encroaching from every direction. The Saxon pirates renewed their raids with […]