All Visible Things is set in the world of Leonardo da Vinci, probably the greatest all-round genius to ever live. Here are ten true things about Leonardo that appear in the novel that may surprise you. There is a strong probability that Leonardo was an animal-loving vegetarian.Leonardo was strikingly handsome and a rather vain dandy.He … Continue reading 10 Things About LdV
FACT OR FICTION? ACCURACY IN HISTORICAL FICTION
Readers of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall and its sequels know that however much the author has used her creative skills to fill in the many holes in our knowledge of Thomas Cromwell, she will have taken no liberties with the facts that are available to historians. I’m pretty confident that Ms Mantel could authoritatively lecture … Continue reading FACT OR FICTION? ACCURACY IN HISTORICAL FICTION
RESEARCHING FOR HISTORICAL FICTION
Doing the research is one of the chief pleasures of writing historic fiction. There’s nothing like having an excuse to spend hours immersed in the everyday lives of artisans in Tudor England, artists’ models in Renaissance Florence, minor officials in the court of Louis XIV or whatever place and period you have chosen as your … Continue reading RESEARCHING FOR HISTORICAL FICTION
Concise [ kuhn-sahys ]: Expressing or covering much in few words
The advice most often offered to an aspiring writer is to be concise, to use as few words as possible to convey meaning. To that end, I think we need a campaign to adopt a bunch of words from other languages. After all, English has grown largely by this process, we should simply focus our … Continue reading Concise [ kuhn-sahys ]: Expressing or covering much in few words
Art or ‘art’
25 million people visited one of London’s principal public art museums in 2017. Meanwhile, Tate Modern has become the most popular of all of London’s tourist attractions. Art in general, and modern art in particular, is extremely popular. Whether we seek something beautiful, thought-provoking or historically significant, art museums have something for every taste. Having … Continue reading Art or ‘art’
Global Virtue Signalling
A thought experiment. Imagine a big red button on your desk or table. It is prominently labeled 'STOP'. If you press it, all fossil fuel extraction will cease within 24 hours, everywhere on earth. Did you press it? I've no idea how much energy inventory is held – oil, gas and coal. Let's say 90 … Continue reading Global Virtue Signalling
Art / Decor / Garbage
For the past year or so I've been immersed in the world of traditional figurative art of the Italian Renaissance, researching my novel, 'All Visible Things'. In the course of this eminently enjoyable endeavour, a number of questions have been nagging at me. – Why is it considered a bit tacky to hang a reproduction … Continue reading Art / Decor / Garbage
Believe Your Own Eyes
Having written a little about Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, it's time to turn the spotlight on another work by the Renaissance genius. This is the cartoon of The Virgin and Child with St Anne and St John The Baptist, formerly known as The Burlington House Cartoon. It hangs in the National Gallery in London. … Continue reading Believe Your Own Eyes
The Mysterious Mona Lisa
'All Visible Things' narrates the fictional tale of the discovery of the diaries of one Paolo del Rosso, assistant to Leonardo da Vinci. Along the way, the book also exploits the complicated saga of the Mona Lisa. There is fairly compelling evidence that the painting in the Louvre, La Gioconda or the Mona Lisa, is … Continue reading The Mysterious Mona Lisa
Another one on its way
Just uploaded the corrected file for 'Empress' to CreateSpace. Should be available on Amazon in a couple of days. Always an exciting, and nerve-wracking moment!
Aiming for a Writer's Life 