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Award-winning Historical Fiction Author

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Category: History

Release Day for Of Sword and Shadow

Of Sword and Shadow officially releases today! I’m thrilled to share this medieval adventure with you. Early readers have loved … More

Adventure Novels, Book Launch, Clean Romance, Duchy of Athens, Historical Fiction, Medieval, Medieval Fiction, Of Sword and Shadow

A Personal Connection to WWI

When I started work on The Spider and the Sparrow, I began a ton of research about World War One. … More

Family History, Great War, History, WWI

Pictures of the Great War

I had a pleasant surprise while researching my latest novel, The Spider and the Sparrow. It turns out that a … More

75 mm field gun, artillery, French Trenches, French Women in War, Great War, Historical Fiction, History, Literature, Munitions Factory, Propoganda Posters, Royal Flying Corps, Second Battle of Artois, Soixante-Quinze field gun, Sopwith Pup, Spies, The Spider and the Sparrow, WWI

100 years ago today . . .

100 years ago today, a sickly young man with a mission wandered the streets of Sarajevo. Gavrilo Princip, a young … More

Archduke Ferdinand, Gavrilo Princip, Great War, History, WWI

Star-Spangled Summer Adventure

If you look hard enough, you can always find an anniversary for an interesting historical event, but 2014 seems to … More

Battle of Baltimore, Battle of Washington D.C., D-day, Star-Spangled Adventure, Star-Spangled Banner, War of 1812, WWI

The 70th Anniversary of D-day

Seventy years ago today, American, British, and Canadian troops stormed the beaches of Normandy, France in the largest amphibious invasion … More

Bedford Boys, D-day, Gold beach, History, Juno Beach, Merville Battery, Omaha Beach, Paratroopers, Pegasus Bridge, Pointe du Hoc, Ste.-Mère-Eglise, Sword Beach, The Longest Day, Utah beach, WWII

How to Code Messages Like a WWII Spy

This blog post will take you through the steps of encoding a message using double transposition, just like British and … More

Coding, Double Transposition, Gestapo, Henry V, Leo Marks, Poem Code, SOE, Special Operations Executive, Spies, WOKs, WWII

I have a new title, and a map

The title for my third novel was finalized last month: Deadly Alliance. I like it. A lot. No, it wasn’t one of … More

Book Titles, Briana Shawcroft, David Howarth, German Operational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral, Independent State of Croatia, Italy, Jack Higgins, Maps, Serbia, WWII, Yugoslavia

Things not to do if you’re an agent in a Nazi-occupied country

This past summer I read a nonfiction book about several British agents who went into France during WWII as part … More

History, Prosper Network, SOE, SOE F Section networks, Special Operations Executive, Spies, WWII

A Post About Alexanders

This blog post revolves around two very different subjects that have come up for me this month. Their connection: the name … More

Alexander Pope, Alexander the Great, Ancient History, History, Quentin L. Cook, Religion

The 69th Anniversary of D-day

Last year I posted some pictures my sister took of the WWII memorial in Washington DC. Now that another anniversary … More

D-day, History, WWII, WWII Memorial

Happy Memorial Day and some Sworn Enemy Links

Memorial Day I know it’s not Memorial Day yet, but the weekend is about to start, and I expect most … More

Arlington National Cemetery, Columbia Basin Herald, Memorial Day, Remembrance, The Good Word Podcast

Sweeney Todd, Sherlock Holmes, and Stephen Ambrose

A friend of mine asked me about the name of one of my characters, Sherlock. He’s in Sworn Enemy, a … More

Character Development, History, Nicknames, Paratroopers, Pegasus Bridge, Sherlock Holmes, Stephen Ambrose, Sweeney Todd

What’s in a Name? Part Two: Commander Courage and Other Names That Border on Perfection

I recently read an article about the first naval battle of Narvik, which took place in April 1940 between British … More

History, Narvik, Naval Battles, Norway, Ofotfjord, Royal Navy, WWII

What’s in a Name? Part One: Paulus and Paullus

Seventy years ago today, on February 2, 1943, the last German troops in Stalingrad surrendered. The fight for Stalingrad was … More

Ancient History, Canae, General Paulus, Paullus, Stalingrad, WWII

My New Maps

I didn’t have a map for my first novel, Espionage. Most of the novel took place in Calais, France, so … More

Briana Shawcroft, France, Maps, Romania, WWII

Remembrance Day

Last weekend a good friend went to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, for their Remembrance Day activities. She posted these pictures on facebook, … More

American Civil War, Gettysburg, Remembrance

Happy Veterans’ Day!

I’m having this post at 11 in the morning, French time (at least according to the time zone chart I … More

Armistice Day, Iwo Jiwa Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Remembrance, Veterans' Day, Vietnam Memorial, WWI

Research Find: Why you shouldn’t tell the newspapers if you’re breaking someone’s code or tracking their satellite phone

In 1927, the government of Great Britain was looking for a reason to break off diplomatic relations with the Soviet … More

Research Finds: Unusual Stiches and a Little-known Battle

One thing about writing historical fiction—you have to do a lot of research. Good thing I like learning new things. … More

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