Christian Cameron has written some of the finest historical fiction on the market today. Under the pseudonym Miles Cameron, he’s also produced some of the very best fantasy I’ve had the privilege of reading. I have all his books, and re-read them regularly, which is the highest recommendation I can give them. His Masters… Continue reading Saturday Snippet: Wizardry, ships and swords
Tag: Adventure
Saturday Snippet: “An elephant is better than a tractor”
We’ve met the late explorer and adventurer Tim Severin in these pages several times before. Today, I’d like to bring you an excerpt from my favorite among all his books, “The Sindbad Voyage“. The blurb reads: Sindbad. Perhaps the greatest fictional sailor of them all. But could his amazing voyages, recounted in the The… Continue reading Saturday Snippet: “An elephant is better than a tractor”
Remembering Tim Severin, one of the greatest modern adventurers
We’ve met Tim Severin in these pages several times before, most recently last November when I excerpted his book “Crusader“, describing how he rode a descendant of medieval war horses across Europe to Jerusalem. He came to widespread attention in the 1970’s with his book “The Brendan Voyage“, describing how he and his crew sewed… Continue reading Remembering Tim Severin, one of the greatest modern adventurers
Saturday Snippet: Riding a medieval knight’s war horse from France to Jerusalem
We’ve met Tim Severin in these pages before. He’s a famous explorer and historian, with many expeditions and books to his credit. In the late 1980’s, Severin and a companion decided to retrace the route of the First Crusade (1095-1099) from France to Jerusalem, overland. Severin particularly wanted to learn what it was like… Continue reading Saturday Snippet: Riding a medieval knight’s war horse from France to Jerusalem
An interesting look at the French Foreign Legion
I’ve had a certain amount of contact with the French Foreign Legion in Africa, in Chad and Djibouti during the 1980’s. They struck me as very professional, very skilled. South African military personnel who met them generally agreed they were a cut above our regulars, and we respected them. I’ve read a number of… Continue reading An interesting look at the French Foreign Legion
Smuggling a war memorial out of the Soviet zone of occupation
I’m grateful to reader A. H. for sending me the link to this account of how the US Army helped recover an historic Danish war memorial in the aftermath of World War II. Seventy-five years ago, Colonel Barney Oldfield, a Nebraska-born U.S. Army public affairs officer, spearheaded the bronze statue’s repatriation. Calling it one… Continue reading Smuggling a war memorial out of the Soviet zone of occupation
Saturday Snippet: A new collection, and I’m in it
It’s nice to have something new to report on the writing front. Some months ago Jim Curtis, better known in the blogosphere as Old NFO, invited several Texas authors, including the members of our local North Texas Writers, Shooters and Pilots Association, to contribute stories to an anthology. We could write about anything we pleased; … Continue reading Saturday Snippet: A new collection, and I’m in it
A fascinating tale of obsession, teamwork and undersea exploration
The New Yorker has a very interesting (and very long) article about a man’s obsession with reaching the bottom of the deepest point in every ocean, and how he set about it. In the process, he built – as a private venture, using his own money – the only vessel in existence certified to dive… Continue reading A fascinating tale of obsession, teamwork and undersea exploration
Saturday Snippet: An American with the Shangani Patrol
The so-called Shangani Patrol was a legendary encounter in 1893 between colonial forces and the Matabele tribe of Lobengula in what is today Zimbabwe. The entire patrol was annihilated, after having killed more than ten times its own number in an epic fight through the bush. In colonial Rhodesia, it was regarded in the same… Continue reading Saturday Snippet: An American with the Shangani Patrol
Saturday Snippet: Between silk and cyanide
One of the most remarkable autobiographies to come out of World War II was that of Leo Marks, who became the code specialist for Special Operations Executive (SOE), the clandestine operations department set up by Winston Churchill with the directive to “set Europe ablaze”. SOE supplied arms, money and operators to resistance movements all over… Continue reading Saturday Snippet: Between silk and cyanide