So many people have told us they really enjoy the short intro/outro music we recorded for the podcast so...We've written a full four minute theme song complete with daft cheesy lyrics, full-on rock vocals, and searing guitar solos (two of the buggers!). It's just a bit of fun, we hope you like it...

Look out for another bonus episode tomorrow with some news about the podcast!

Dio, Maiden, Queen,

And everything in between,

If you like your rock,

Come hear us talk,

And we'll keep it (mostly) clean

We chat about writing scenes,

And native British greens,

Adventure and action,

Get your book traction,

It's the podcast of your dreams

RPS chorus

History comes to life,

With a wicked Saxon knife,

Lord of the Rings,

And other things,

Enjoy it with your wife

From cowboys to ancient celts,

We'll tell you just how it smelt,

With special guests,

We're druid blessed,

We're gonna make faces melt!

Guitar solos

Chorus

Dan Jones is a bestselling historian, TV presenter and award-winning journalist. His books, which have sold more than a million copies worldwide, include THE PLANTAGENETS, THE TEMPLARS, THE HOLLOW CROWN. His book CRUSADERS was published in autumn 2019. He co-authored the Sunday Times bestseller THE COLOUR OF TIME and THE WORLD AFLAME, published in March 2020, with Marina Amaral.

Dan has also written and presented numerous TV series including 'Secrets of Great British Castles' (Netflix, Channel 5), 'Britain’s Bloodiest Dynasty: The Plantagenets' and 'London: 2000 Years of History'.

Most recently Dan's historical fiction debut, ESSEX DOGS, the first installment in a trilogy set during the Hundred Years War, was published by Head of Zeus on 15 September 2022.

Welcome to Rock, Paper, Swords, Dan Jones!

***This episode was our most streamed during 2023!***

Slaine from 2000AD. Sherlock Holmes. Dr Who. Primeval. Stargate. Return of the Jedi. Ghost-writing for genuine legends of the rap and hip-hop scene.... Our guest today is probably the most prolific and best-selling author you've never heard of! And he also writes for games, including the major Xbox/Playstation hit, Battlefield 3!  

Not only that, he used to write the odd story for classic "top-shelf" magazines like Fiesta and Escort, and no, those were NOT about 80's motor cars, they were FAR sexier than an RS2000 or XR2...  

Join us today, as we chat with Steven Savile!

That's right! We interview one of THE best loved historical fiction authors of the past twenty years today - Simon Scarrow! Join us as we chat about his writing, his upcoming musical (yep, you read that right), Romans, and loads more.

First ever image on the internet - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Horribles_Cernettes

Just a very short message to wish our listeners all the best for the coming year. Thank you ALL for joining us in 2022, hope to see you again in 2023! 

www.matthewharffy.com

www.stevenamckay.com

Christmas a humbug?! Join the boys as they look at all sorts of winter traditions, ancient and modern, from Saturnalia shenanigans to Yule logs to "old" movies.

If you like Christmas stories, check out Steven's brand new novelette, The Pedlar's Promise, 

and Matthew has a new novel out too, Forest of Foes!

Burning a Yule log - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sw3unDRU6Eg&ab_channel=CountryDirtKid

Christmas Past podcast  

Total Christmas podcast  (from which I stole the terrible joke....)

Santa or Father Christmas had been pictured with a red coat on hundreds of years before Coca-Cola, but the modern image of Santa is clearly based on the 1930's Coke adverts IMO (Steven).

Matthew and Steven are chatting this week with Jean Gill. The interview covered a lot of really interesting subjects so we're sure you'll enjoy the episode! Look out for our Christmas special next, and then we'll have our first interview with a musician early in 2023, with lots more fantastic guests lined up for the coming year!

LINKS to things mentioned in the chat:

Here is the jet ski guy on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/mfroos

This was also nice: https://youtu.be/00dGeSzoLdg

I'm assuming you've found the Draken Harald Hårfagre channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XORSpUUy0lQ

This was useful too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NGQF_xbOTA

website jeangill.com

Dr Jackson Crawford  https://www.youtube.com/c/JacksonCrawford

The voyage of the Sea Stallion https://youtu.be/Q8jhnrNHk3g

Secrets of the Viking Navigators - Leif K Karlsen

The annual Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off #SPFBO8

Since last week's interview with Carol McGrath had some audio issues that forced us to shorten it somewhat we thought we'd put out this little bonus episode as a bit of fun - a freebie if you will! We read out some funny or just odd reviews of our own books. This was something Steven suggested because he thought it would be a right laugh but, in fact, as we started putting together the material for the episode it became clear reading 1 star reviews of our stuff wasn't as hilarious as we'd expected - it was actually a bit depressing! So this is a short bonus rather than a full length episode. Enjoy! ;-)

We'll have a regular episode next week as usual, and we'll be discussing what we use to research our novels. Books, websites, podcasts....Make sure you're subscribed so you never miss an episode, and please do leave a 5 star rating if you enjoy what we're doing!

Today we are chatting with bestselling author Carol McGrath. She's written books like The Handfasted Wife and Sex and Sexuality in Tudor England. We had a good long discussion with Carol but there were some audio issues which forced us to cut down the episode. Hopefully you still enjoy the interview!

To make up for the slightly shorter episode, we'll be dropping an extra BONUS episode next week in which we read out some dodgy reviews of our own books, so look out for that, it's just a bit of fun...

Carol McGrath - Following a first degree in English and History, Carol McGrath completed an MA in Creative Writing from The Seamus Heaney Centre, Queens University Belfast, followed by an MPhil in English from University of London

The Handfasted Wife, first in a trilogy about the royal women of 1066 was shortlisted for the RoNAS in 2014. The Swan-Daughter and The Betrothed Sister complete this highly acclaimed trilogy.

https://carolcmcgrath.co.uk/

The boys discuss the history of Hallowe'en! Includes some chat on Steven's spooky novella Knight of the Cross, and Matthew's short tale, Kin of Cain. Sleep paralysis, black eyed kids, folklore, Beowulf, pumpkin and turnip carving, and loads more... Turn out the lights and lock the doors for this fun look at everyone's favourite spooky night of the year!