Sunday 17 July 2011

The Open Fetterlock

Following a suggestion from Joan Szechtman and with her help with the formating, I have put together a Kindle 'book' of my unpublished writings. It's called The Open Fetterlock and should be available from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk within the next few days. The price will be 99c in the USA and 75p in the UK.

I should tell you that there are no complete stories in there - these are tasters, or, if you like, scraps from my cutting-room floor. However they will at least prove that I have done something these last few years, including a couple of attempts at the Richard III novel.

Saturday 2 July 2011

Novels about the Middle Ages you should read - number 2

For reasons best known to Google, I am still unable to comment on my own entries, though I can post. What strange world of logic permits this is beyond me, but if I don't respond to comments please don't think me ignorant - it's just that (for whatever reason) I can't.

My second suggestion in this series is London Bridge is Falling by Philip Lindsay. Lindsay is a much neglected author these days - the novel was published in 1934 - and his output was variable. Some of his novels are a tad melodramatic for my taste, while his biographies of Henry V and Richard III are a little to the right of hagiographic.

In his long dedication, Lindsay admits that he cut the novel down from something much bigger and says that it is more of a 'street scene' than a novel. However, as it runs to 448 pages it is scarcely a short story.

The plot revolves around the people living on London Bridge in 1450, and how, ultimately they are impacted upon by Cade's rebellion. For several, it brings death.

You will care for some of the characters; others you will strongly dislike. However, as a novel of life in medieval London, with all its contrasts of wealth and squalour, London Bridge is Falling is hard to beat.