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I'm a maritime and naval author, and I've set up
the website in order to provide information about my current and forthcoming books, post corrections and extra information,
and to build up a list of resources and material you may find useful.
A bit about me:
As a child I read books by Henry Treece, Rosemary Sutcliff and Geoffrey Trease, but
it was Alexander Dumas' The Three Musketeers that gave me a love of history in general and that of the
17th Century in particular. Unfortunately, the school syllabus did not cover military history, so I dropped
it after O-level and studied languages before reading English at the University of Durham. After three years as an in-house
copywriter I went to work for Lloyd’s
Register of Shipping, initially in advertising but soon as Information Officer. My known passion for the English Civil
War was, they seemed to think, the ideal background for getting to grips with maritime history - I was, at that time,
a very active member of the Sealed Knot Society of Cavaliers and Roundheads...Several very rewarding years followed, during
which I answered questions from around the world on merchant ships past and present for freight forwarders,
marine lawyers, historians, divers, art dealers, members of the public—just about anyone. During that time, I came across the name of an 18th Century East Indiaman, Winterton. She became
the obsession that, almost 20 years later (by which time I had left LR and raised a family) became the subject
of my first maritime book: Marked For Misfortune, published by Conway for whom I have
been writing ever since. Long before that I wrote a children’s book The Dragon of Brog, published in hardback 1994, paperback
in 1996, by Oxford (with wonderful illustrations by Peter Kavanagh).
Recent News
In November 20111 “Carrier” was awarded a Certificate of Merit in the Mountbatten Maritime Literary Award.
I knew it was one of the 39 books nominated, so to make the top six in such an incredibly wide-ranging category was wonderful.
The awards are for fact or realistic fiction that can “demonstrate a true understanding of the maritime subject; and
accurately portray the influence of the sea in the story”. I nearly didn’t go to the Maritime Media Awards Evening as I was so busy with “Dig WWII” , but
I was glad I did. The dinner was held at the Institute of Directors in London, and a number of senior Royal Navy figures were
present, including the present First Sea Lord. I have to say that when I wrote the book the Royal Navy
was celebrating the ordering of the new aircraft carriers. By the time of the award, it looked as though I had written a requiem
for British Naval Aviation.
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| Congratulations from the First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope GCB, OBE. |
LATEST NEWS - 7TH MARCH 2012: "SHIPWRIGHT"
I have taken up the challenge of co-editing Shipwright. For those who don't know
it, it's Conway's annual publication for the ship modelling community. For 37 years it was a quarterly magazine
named Model Shipwright; three years ago it switched to being a hardback annual, and with the advantage of full colour.
It caters for scratch-building ship modellers, the people who create fabulously detailed and accurate scale models based
on original plans or archaeological research, from the ancient craft of the Mediterranean to the most modern warships and
cruise ships. John Bowen, the venerated ship modeller who specialises in waterline models, remains at the helm. He's been
with the journal for the whole of its existence, and has edited it for all but two years.
We are always keen to
receive ideas for articles from modellers - it's a chance to showcase the building of top-quality scratch-built ship
models, including radio-controlled.Please note that we can only consider articles that have not been published elsewhere
and which are illustrated with high quality images as the whole point is to illustrate the finished models and the
construction process (with all its challenges and the satisfaction that comes from overcoming difficulties).
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