History has some pretty chilling records of uncomfortable conditions used to house prisoners and special punishments for breaches of prison rules. Isolation, or so called “solitary confinement,” was a standard punishment procedure, and is still used even today. Many prisoners have acknowledged the profound effect of this singular punishment on… Read More »World War Two: Standing Cells by JJ Toner
Last week, Sarah Woodbury wrote a post about setting her newest Gareth and Gwen Medieval mystery, Fallen Princess, during the Celtic celebration of what is now known as Halloween. Coincidentally, I’d written a similar post last year about setting a scene of Uneasy Spirits, my second San Francisco Victorian mystery,… Read More »Victorian Valentines by M. Louisa Locke
The challenge for all authors of historical fiction is to make the past accessible to modern readers without losing the spark that makes the story historical. Readers seek out historical fiction for many reasons, which must include a desire to learn about the past in a less dry manner than… Read More »The Importance of Setting in Historical Fiction by Sarah Woodbury
When I was writing My Splendid Concubine and discovered how powerful the Empress Dowager Cixi (1835 – 1908) was I had no idea there was another woman from China’s history who was more powerful than Cixi. Under Cixi—who ruled as regent through her son and then a nephew—China’s Qing Dynasty was… Read More »Was China’s only female emperor the most powerful feminist in history? by Lloyd Lofthouse
Legend asserts that the grand pageant of Venice began precisely at noon on Friday, March 25, 421 AD, when the first stone was laid at the site which would eventually become the Basilica San Marco (or another church near the Rialto if you subscribe to a rival theory). While this spring… Read More »Marriage to the Sea by Beverle Graves Myers