It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these posts, but now that I’m in the process of editing Valley of the Shadow, it’s time to start introducing some of the new characters and the historical figures they’re based …

Major Player: Christian IV of Denmark Read more »

This is another sort-of reblog of a post from days long past. The original had some inaccuracies I now know enough to correct. Thankfully, hardly anyone saw it- one of the advantages of blogging in obscurity. As some- or maybe …

The Thirty Years War- a Condensed Version Read more »

The fantasy version of this guy wasn’t going to come into play until the second book, but he’s just too much fun to leave out. Christian, Duke of Brunswick-Luneburg and Bishop of Halberstadt, was the same age as Frederick and …

Major Player: Christian of Brunswick Read more »

Since the majority of my main characters are based on historical figures, I thought I’d profile some of them, and then let you figure out who’s who. No, actually I’ll totally hit you over the head with the who’s who. …

Major Player: Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor Read more »

Some of you might have noticed that my book is tentatively titled The Winter King. That’s just a working title for now until I find something better. After all the changes I’ve made, there will be neither winter nor a king …

Bohemia Part 3: The Winter King Read more »

So, I jumped the gun a bit in my last post. Before the Bohemians could elect a new king, a bunch of other stuff happened. When I first started to write my book, I wanted to cover all of this. …

Bohemia Part 2: Battles in the Land of Beer Read more »

After successfully (hah!) compressing the events of The Thirty Years War into 700 words, I thought I would do the same for the events that precipitated said war. After all, if the entire war could be summarized so succinctly, surely …

Bohemia Part I: The War Begins Read more »