I cannot remember how long ago I invented Ragaris, the medieval continent with equal rights for women – it was before I met my husband, so maybe about thirty years ago. And I certainly can’t remember why. You would think that by now I’d have sorted...
What does the Kingdom of God mean? During His earthly ministry, Jesus sent out disciples two by two by preach and heal. They preached “the gospel” and “the kingdom of God”, and I’ve always wondered about the content of their sermons, considering that Christianity and its...
The BBC has an archive, some of which seems to be available online and on Facebook, and recently my cousin Calum Benison has been posting a few snippets showing 1960s news broadcasts about recent innovations in science. My interest in these has been mainly because...
We live on a corner, we use the back (kitchen) door a lot, and the kitchen is easily visible from the garden. Perhaps for this reason, we’ve been burgled several times, and the most recent occasion was last Friday. The drill goes as follows: 11 pm...
This week I thought I'd tell a sad little story that I think could be more widely known. Most of what follows is collated from Wikipedia. It's the story of Sophia Dorothea of Celle. She was born in 1666, daughter of the Duke of Brunswick-Luneberg by...
I apologise for the lack of a post last Friday - it was a busy weekend. The party to celebrate “The Tenth Province of Jaryar” was a very happy occasion, for me anyway, and I took the opportunity to announce a competition, which you are all...
(Warning: contains serious spoilers for “Ordeal by Innocence”, both the novel by Agatha Christie, and the TV adaptation scripted by Sarah Phelps.) Quite a few people who have nothing better to do than gripe on social media, like myself, have been expressing strong views about a...
So what’s happening in the worlds of Ragaris and Ragaris-publishing these days? Some of you will know a lot of this already, especially as I’ve just sent out a belated Update to those on my mailing list (posh) but I feel tempted to be more confessional...
Happy Easter, everyone! When I was a conveyancing solicitor, Maundy Thursday was the most popular day to complete house purchases. It probably still is, and it’s not hard to see why. For most people in Britain, Easter is a fantastic holiday. It gives you a four or...
My friend and cover-artist Ian Storer has previously written for this blog. He will shortly be publishing “Taken Things”, the first in a series of tales set around the so-called Unnatural History Museum, the workplace of Dr Speedwell and Polly Nightingale. I asked him to...