One of the great joys of writing the Desolate Empire series has been fictionalizing real people. There are some huge benefits to this approach. I can turn about half of them into women and/or I can slander them egregiously. It’s …

Real Historical Figures Turned into Fantasy Characters 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 →