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Category Archives: research
Elisha Daemon Launch Day!
Today’s the day! Not only is this the launch for Elisha Daemon, but this book is the final volume in the series! If you’ve been waiting to get all five books in hand before you read, it’s time to start. … Continue reading
Avignon: The Palace of the Popes
One of my favorite parts of writing the Elisha series has been learning about all these fantastic places and people of the 14th century. One of the best has got to be the Palace of the Popes in Avignon, France. … Continue reading
Posted in Elisha Daemon, history, medieval, religion, research, Settings, The Dark Apostle, Uncategorized
Tagged Avignon, medieval popes, papal palace, Pope Clement VI
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Celebrating Friday the 13th with the Knights Templar!
So, today is Friday the Thirteenth, a day which apparently over 21 million Americans still fear. There are numerous explanations for this concern about the date (I actually wrote a paper about this back in junior high, when I was … Continue reading
Posted in England, fiction, history, medieval, religion, research, The Dark Apostle
Tagged crusades, Friday the 13th, Holy Grail, Knights Templar, Templars
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Medieval Technology: the crane
One of the niftiest things I saw in Germany while I was doing research for Elisha Mancer were the Kranen of Trier–the medieval cranes used to unload boats on the nearby Mosel River. I was fascinated by these curious round … Continue reading
A Brief History of Jews in China
Continuing my inadvertent series about surprising cultural connections (and my ruminations on the fact that history so often repeats itself), I recently came across this article in the New York Times about the clampdown on public practice of Judaism in … Continue reading
Posted in fiction, history, medieval, Mongolia, religion, research, worldbuilding
Tagged china, Chinese Jews, history of Judaism, Jewish history, Kaifeng
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Location, Location, Location: The Roles of Setting in Fiction
A few of my recent posts have focused on settings I visited and researched for my work–definitely one of the perks! But it may seem as if I am a bit obsessive about my settings. That’s because setting is one … Continue reading
Posted in research, Settings, writing, writing process
Tagged fantasy, fantasy settings, fantasy writing, fiction, setting, writing about places, writing fiction
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Unused Settings: Aachen, the Imperial City of Germany
I’ve mentioned Aachen in a couple of recent blog posts, and I figure it’s time this beautiful city got its own entry although, alas, it will not appear in my book. I had the opportunity to visit a couple of … Continue reading
Relics in the Middle Ages: The Crucifixion
In honor of Easter, which many folks will be observing this weekend, I wanted to look a little more deeply at the role of relics in the Middle Ages. It’s no secret that medievals were a little mad for relics. … Continue reading
Posted in history, medieval, relics, religion, research
Tagged crown of thorns, crucified, crucifixion, Easter, holy family, Jesus Christ, medieval relics, Middle Ages, nails, relics, virgin Mary
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Review: Magic, Mysticism, and Hasidism, by Gedalyah Nigal
I picked up this book after discovering it in the bibliography of a couple of other books on Jewish mysticism which I was reading as research material for book 4 in my Dark Apostle series. I wanted more detail on … Continue reading
Posted in book reviews, fantasy, magic, medieval, religion, research
Tagged hasidism, history of magic, kabbalah, magic, mysticism
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E. C. Ambrose 