If you would like to help us with our running costs, and get exclusive bonus episodes every month, a free copy of our book, Tips on Writing, Publishing and Marketing your Book, and other cool perks, check out our Patreon page.

⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/RockPaperSwordsPodcast⁠⁠

Today Matthew interviews Steven and they discuss Sword of the Saxons, book 2 in the Alfred the Great trilogy.

Vikings, great battles, Athelney, and, most importantly, did Alfred burn the cakes?! Find out in this episode and be sure to buy the book HERE.

If you would like to help us with our running costs, and get exclusive BONUS EPISODES every month, a FREE copy of our book, Tips on Writing, Publishing and Marketing your Book, and other cool perks, check out our Patreon page.

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We've been invited to cover the 2024 Historical Novel Society conference this year as the official roving podcasters! Bernard Cornwell, Diana Gabaldon, Kate Quinn, and loads more huge names in historical fiction will be there and we can't wait to bring you all the news and gossip from the event. Find out more in this short bonus episode!

You can also find out more at the HNS website -

https://hns2024.com/

If you would like to help us with our running costs, and get exclusive bonus episodes every month, a free copy of our book, Tips on Writing, Publishing and Marketing your Book, and other cool perks, check out our Patreon page.

⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/RockPaperSwordsPodcast⁠⁠

Check it out, and be sure to buy your copy of DARK FRONTIER!

Buy now: https://mybook.to/HarffyDarkFrontier

If you would like to help us with our running costs, and get exclusive bonus episodes every month, a free copy of our book, Tips on Writing, Publishing and Marketing your Book, and other cool perks, check out our Patreon page.

Mark also gives piano lessons online HERE

Ard Bandcamp page

Winterfylleth Bandcamp page

Ard Lindisfarne Mead bundles

Youtube video of Winterfylleth performing "The Hallowing of Heirdom", one of their most beautiful songs. 

Theme music by Steven and Matthew. The short piece of music at the outro is Steven's attempt at doom metal!

If you would like to help us with our running costs, and get exclusive bonus episodes every month, a free copy of our book, Tips on Writing, Publishing and Marketing your Book, and other cool perks, check out our Patreon page.

⁠https://www.patreon.com/RockPaperSwordsPodcast⁠

Katie Daysh is an author from the Isle of Wight who loves to explore unheard voices in fiction. In her historical fiction, she enjoys placing queer characters at the heart of the narrative. Her stories are often set on the sea and illuminate themes of friendship, loyalty and mental health issues. Her debut novel, Leeward, was published by Canelo in 2023, followed by The Devil to Pay in 2024.

Useful links:

https://www.katiedaysh.com/

Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RockPaperSwordsPodcast and X https://twitter.com/rock_swords 

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/RockPaperSwordsPodcast

If you would like to help us with our running costs, and get exclusive bonus episodes every month, and other cool perks including a FREE copy of the book we wrote together, check out our patreon page: ⁠  / rockpaperswordspodcast  

While touring the world, playing to sold out audiences, he has had the opportunity to share the stage with some of rock's biggest names, including some of his own personal heroes including Slash, Lemmy, Alice Cooper, Duff McKagan, Fergie, Bill Murray, Sammy Hagar and many more.

Having played with so much rock royalty, that must make Todd “Rock Nobility” at the very least!

Welcome to Rock, Paper, Swords, Todd!

If you would like to help us with our running costs, and get exclusive bonus episodes every month, and other cool perks, check out our patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/RockPaperSwordsPodcast

Born and raised in Detroit, now living in Nashville, Tennessee, Cody C. Engdahl describes himself as a practitioner of the Southern Gentlemanly Arts, an amateur fiddler, cook, whiskey connoisseur, and armchair historian. He is the author of five historical novels. His latest is The Prussian Prince, a swashbuckling adventure that'll take you into the heart of the Austro-Prussian War and book 5 of the Long Century series.

Welcome to RPS, Cody!

Useful links: https://codycengdahl.wordpress.com/

https://www.techspot.com/news/102875-40000-ai-narrated-audiobooks-flood-audible-dividing-authors.html

Researching is a huge part of a historical fiction author's life. In this episode we discuss what we use to embed ourselves in our chosen time periods.

Today we have a special guest who we think will be of particular interest, especially to aspiring writers. Kit Nevile is a Commissioning Editor at publishers Canelo. He is particularly interested in thrillers, horror, and action/adventure books, and just so happens to be Steven’s editor! Before working at Canelo he was at Persephone Books and Whitefox publishing services, both in an editorial role.

In this episode we will try to find out what a commissioning editor actually does, what they look for in a new book, how he thinks the publishing business will change in coming years, how artificial intelligence (AI) will impact things, and lots more!

Welcome to RPS, Kit Nevile!

https://www.canelo.co/

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/RockPaperSwordsPodcast

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RockPaperSwordsPodcast 

X: x.com/rock_swords

This episode is sponsored by Paul Bernardi's brand new historical thriller Blood Feud. Please check it out HERE!

The Historical Novel Society defines the genre as works "written at least fifty years after the events described". Do you agree with that? What about alternative history? What about novels that were written as contemporary fiction but are now hundreds of years old? What about fiction set in a time SO remote that it's essentially speculative? We discuss these points and more!

Take a listen to this fascinating topic and please let us know what you think constitutes "historical fiction".

Useful links:

Support us on one of our 3 tiers on Patreon -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_fiction

If you're an author or publisher and would like to sponsor one of our episodes, please get in touch. You can find us on social media or email us at [email protected]