2008/9 has proven to be a difficult economic climate in the publishing industry, as it has been for most everyone except bankers. I was unfortunately at the wrong end of the cycle (meaning about to go to market) when the recession hit, and have decided to keep writing historical fiction as well as researching my next non-fiction books until the market improves. To keep the wolf from the door, I have become an associate producer with Wild Thyme Productions for theatre, film, radio and TV productions and continue to advise on heritage tourism developments. I am also converting my novels (below) to screenplays for Wild Thyme.

My other book projects include:

Non-Fiction:

The White Tower Conspiracy – Richard III and the Women who Framed him for Murder. Richard III is unique in history. No other monarch has been so reviled, and praised, in equal measure. No other monarch has his own ‘fan club’ (I use the term loosely since that’s hardly a fair assessment of the great work of The Richard III Society) founded some four hundred years after his death. Rumoured to have callously murdered his nephews in the Tower either shortly before or after he usurped England’s throne, Richard’s reputation lives on in infamy thanks to the ‘histories’ by William Shakespeare (The Tragedy of Richard III), Sir Thomas More, and Sir Francis Bacon to name a few. In this book, I will take a ‘fresh look’ at Richard’s life in the context of the ‘new’ forensic evidence, how Henry VII and his ‘Lancastrians’ fit into the myths surrounding Richard before and after his death, and a reassessment of the roles of the women in Richard’s history. I will rely on original chronicles and texts, the latest scholarly works, and above all, my ability to set Richard and the people of his times into their proper context for the modern reader.

Shakespeare’s Lost Years – For the past four years I’ve been researching the alleged ‘lost years’ of William Shakespeare, which many would call a work of fiction. Notwithstanding this, by going back to original sources – some of which have not been referred to in the mountain of published research on Shakespeare – I have uncovered some potentially interesting facts that light his way from Stratford to London in the 1580s. I may well publish my findings first as part of a series of academic articles.

Fiction:

The Diamond Cutter - I have written a novel about a fictional diamond cutter, based on the cutting of the Sancy Diamond in the early sixteenth century. The book is set between 1492 and 1504 in Spain, Portugal and the Low Countries follows the life of the Jewish daughter of a diamond merchant, who is forced to become a Conversa Christian and marry against her will to survive. It is a tale of power, greed, and forbidden love and the heroine’s dilemma of trying to control her destiny amid forces that conspire against her. It is approximately 100,000 words.

Shakespeare’s Daughter – Is a novel about Susanna Hall’s quest to discover herself and who her father really was, based on my research for the ‘lost years’. Her development from ‘country bumpkin’ to a witty woman able to hold her own with anyone takes her from Stratford to London in the footsteps of her father. On the way, she finds love, but more importantly she finds out who she really is. It is approximately 105,000 words.