Tim Flanagan's Blog, page 6

Make your Own Codes – The Art of Cryptography

My latest book, The Plotting Shed, follows a twelve-year-old spy. Last week I wrote about codes, but how do you make a code? Here are some simple guidelines. Have fun! Throughout many generations, kids have made codes as a hobby. The messages composed from these have been kept secret, even if they have been intercepted… Read More

The pensioners are revolting…

When a surprising syndicate of old-aged pensioners begin flooding the market with fake banknotes there’s only one twelve-year-old who can stop them—SAM TROWEL, MI6’s newest recruit. THE PLOTTING SHED – OUT TODAY Hilarious spy book for children aged 9 and above.     ALSO TODAY – FREE TO DOWNLOAD Lawrence Pinkley’s Casbook Vol 2 In… Read More

Codes – Confidentiality using Cryptology

A good spy has to be able to communicate with others without your opposition being able to understand what the message says. In The Plotting Shed Sam Trowel is a twelve-year-old SPY (Special Patrol Youth) who’s learning on the job, stumbling occasionally, experimenting with poorly executed disguises, and uncovering devious criminal schemes. Codes are normally… Read More

Superior Spying – Tools for the Job

To celebrate my forthcoming release of The Plotting Shed and the start of a new series, I thought it would be a great time to write a post about Spies. But no Spy would be complete without gadgets, so here’s some real-life gadgets that have actually been developed and used. No spy, whether in the… Read More

NEW BOOK – The Plotting Shed

Pensioners are revolting! When a surprising syndicate of old-aged pensioners begin flooding the market with fake banknotes there’s only one twelve-year-old who can stop them—SAM TROWEL, MI6’s newest recruit. “I’m Sam Trowel—twelve-year-old master of disguise, spy, and Sudoku genius. Oh yes, I also work for MI6. Well, when I say work, it’s more like a… Read More

Alternative Healing – 10 Plants that have Medicinal Properties

I often try and give my stories an air of authenticity and one subject I find interesting is the use of plants for medicines. Here’s some amazing natural remedies I came across during the course of my research. Different civilisations have used plants and herbs as preventatives and cures for thousands of years. As medicine… Read More

Holyrood House Palace – A Royal Home away from Home

In The Moon Stealers and the Quest for the Silver Bough, the search for the Bough ends at the Palace of Holyrood House in Edinburgh. I like to use real-life locations as much as possible in my stories and weave my tales to fit some of the information that already exists about them. Here’s some… Read More

London – 5 Secret Underground Places

It’s always fascinated me what’s going on underneath our feet that we can’t see and will never normally know about. London is a busy city, and like many capitals every available space is used to its greatest capacity, building taller and taller skyscrapers, but also digging deeper below ground level. In The New Savants I… Read More

Avalon – King Arthur’s Final Destination

If you’ve read my Moon Stealer books you will know that I propose a location for Avalon from the King Arthur legends. But there are lots of possible theories about where the final resting place of King Arthur could be. Here are some of them… In the legends of King Arthur it is stated that after he… Read More

Faeries in England – Tales of Folklore

English folklore is littered with mentions of Fairies, or Faeries. I took Faerie elements associated with the time of King Arthur (Morgan Le Fay) and wound them into The Moon Stealer series. In the world we live today technology creates the magic and disproves the wonders of the past. But what if we’ve simply lost touch… Read More