Rock, Paper, Swords! - the Historical Action and Adventure Podcast

Please support us on Patreon from as little as £1 per month and get bonus episodes including exclusive updates on the creation of our 2025 Xmas novella: patreon.com/RockPaperSwordsPodcast

We're republishing this classic episode as we'll be doing a panel with Giles and Patricia Bracewell on February 8th with the HISTORY QUILL CONVENTION.

During the 90s Giles Kristian was lead singer of pop group Upside Down, achieving four top twenty hit records! As a singer-songwriter he lived and toured for two years in Europe and has made music videos all over the world.

Giles is half-Norwegian and his family history inspired him to write his first historical novels: the acclaimed and bestselling RAVEN Viking trilogy. For his next series, he drew on a long-held fascination with the English Civil War to chart the fortunes of a family divided by this brutal conflict in The Bleeding Land and Brothers’ Fury. Giles also co-wrote Wilbur Smith’s No.1 bestseller, Golden Lion. In The Rise of Sigurd novels he returned to the world of the Vikings. His Sunday Times bestseller, Lancelot, is currently in development for TV. He followed Lancelot with Camelot, and now, Where Blood Runs Cold is his debut contemporary thriller.

His latest book, ARTHUR, came out in June 2024.

Welcome to Rock, Paper, Swords, Giles Kristian!

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Useful links: 

https://www.literature-map.com/

Robert Silverberg - The Second Trip - just 99p on Kindle UK! Please note, I didn’t remember the plot when I mentioned it in the episode - I read it more than 30 years ago - but apparently there’s graphic sexual assault scenes so be aware of that if thinking of reading it.

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A. D. Rhine is the pseudonym of Ashlee Cowles and Danielle Stinson. Ashlee holds graduate degrees in medieval history from the University of St. Andrews and theological studies from Duke University. Danielle holds a master of arts in law and diplomacy from Tufts University. Their novels Horses of Fire & Daughters of Bronze, is an epic retelling of the Trojan War, the story they have always dreamt of writing together.

We met Ashlee and Danielle in Devon at the HNS Conference in September last year. We had a great chat over coffee, but knew we had to get them back on the podcast for a longer discussion of their collaborative writing process and their books.

Welcome back to RPS A. D. Rhine.

Take the "What's your ancient archetype" quiz here - https://www.adrhine.com/

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We’ve done episodes on all sorts of topics from reviews of movies and TV series, aspects of writing and publishing and, in 2025, we’re going to write a novella together, and we’ll be giving patrons an inside look into the process of our collaboration, from initial planning, through writing, editing and finally the cover design and publishing.

Patrons also get a free copy of our non-fiction book!

Our first bonus episode, was a chat about one of our very favourite authors, David Gemmell, and in particular his debut novel, Legend.

So, without further ado, here’s that episode and, if you’d like to hear more and get the other perks, sign up to Patreon!

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

https://www.wisdomofgemmell.com/wisdom-of-david-gemmell-archive/

Thank you listeners for your support in 2024. We've had an AMAZING year, topped off by our time at the HNS Conference, and it's all thanks to your support. Cheers, and here's to a great 2025 for us all.

If you enjoy the show and feel like you could support us for as little as £1 a month, check us out on Patreon and get bonus episodes and other great perks! patreon.com/RockPaperSwordsPodcast

Support us on Patreon, where you can even give a loved one a GIFT subscription: https://www.patreon.com/RockPaperSwordsPodcast

Welcome to the RPS Xmas Special 2024! We take a look at some of the best seasonal books like Charles Dickens's "A Christmas Carol", movies like Lethal Weapon (!), and all the classic music we enjoy at this time of year. Like "Wassail The Night Away"! We also discuss the possibility of us collaborating on a Christmas novella TOGETHER in 2025...

It's a fun, if slightly rambling and disjointed episode, but hey, it's Christmas. God bless us, everyone.

The History Quill Convention 2025

https://thehistoryquill.com/convention-2025/

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Jane Johnson is from Cornwall and has worked in the book industry for 30 years as a bookseller, publisher and writer. For many years she was responsible for publishing the works of JRR Tolkien, and later worked on Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, spending months in New Zealand with cast and crew (she wrote the official visual companions to the films). The authors she publishes include George R.R. Martin, Dean Koontz, Robin Hobb, Mark Lawrence and Raymond E Feist.

While she was in Morocco in 2005 to research The Tenth Gift she met her soon-to-be husband, a Berber tribesman from a village in the Anti-Atlas Mountains. Returning home, she gave up her office job in London, sold her flat and shipped the contents to Morocco and they were married later that year. They now split their time between Cornwall and Morocco, and Jane still works remotely as a Fiction Publishing Director for HarperCollins.

We met Jane in Dartington Hall at the HNS Conference back in September and you can listen to that short episode (and watch the video on our Youtube channel), but when we read her CV, we knew we had to get her back for a full episode.

Welcome back to RPS, Jane Johnson!

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Matthew Harffy has a new book out on December 5th called Shadows of the Slain. We chat about it in this episode, and you can buy it at the link below!

Buy the book: https://mybook.to/ShadowsOfTheSlain

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Welcome back to RPS, Ian!

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https://mybook.to/HereticPriory

Find out a little bit more about the stories in this bonus episode and please do buy the new book here: