As we have already seen, the nineteenth century had some pretty memorable bad boys. Appropriately enough, the king of them all was, in fact, a king—Albert Edward (called Bertie by his family), who reigned in the United Kingdom from 1901 … Continue reading
How fun it would be to live in a house that was built before Columbus arrived in America. Half timbering, narrow cobbled streets, nothing but the sound of birdsong in a pre-industrial paradise! Except … you do want all your … Continue reading
Robin Hood and His Merry Men: Will Scarlett Will Scarlett has been a part of the Robin Hood mythology from very near its beginning. He seems to me to be a side character in the myths who changes, as needed, … Continue reading
You don’t need a chimney. But if you’re relying upon combustion to stay warm, a chimney has many advantages. Smoke is mostly drawn up and out of the actual living area. You can use flammable roof materials like thatch without … Continue reading
I love houses. I love to write about them. Houses heavily influence my fiction because they so easily become characters. Sometimes the house in my book insists on upon development, an emotional arc. It wants me to tell my readers … Continue reading
ROBIN HOOD AND HIS MERRY MEN Friar Tuck In modern renditions of the Robin Hood stories, Friar Tuck is an essential element to the cannon. Usually he is portrayed as fat, jovial, a glutton, a prodigious drinker of ale, and … Continue reading
One of the most important considerations if you’re building a house is materials. In the past you’d almost always build out of local materials. It’s just too costly, to haul stones or logs or whatever very far. So if … Continue reading
Robin Hood’s Merry Men: Little John As a companion to my blog series on the Magna Carta, I’m venturing forth with some character sketches of Robin Hood’s Merry Men. Let’s start with Little John, one of the oldest and most … Continue reading
One of the most enduring tropes in romance fiction is the bad boy—a male romantic lead who parties hard, tirelessly carves notches in his bedposts, is devastatingly attractive, yada yada yada… It’s not my particular jam, but to each their … Continue reading
Fans of Robert Heinlein will recall that in his short story ” –And He Built a Crooked House” one of the characters remarks that the main job of a house is to keep the rain off. Yes, shelter is a … Continue reading
