BRINDLE BOOKS INTERVIEW WITH MICHAEL JUDGE, AUTHOR OF STENHOUSE: GROWING UP IN EDINBURGH AND BEYOND.

22nd September 2026 

Whatever town or city we grew up in, most of us have memories of childhood that stay with us long after the places, people and routines have changed. For Michael Judge, those memories are rooted in Stenhouse, Edinburgh, during the 1980s and early 1990s. His debut book, STENHOUSE: Growing Up in Edinburgh and Beyond, captures his childhood world through the everyday experiences of growing up — but the feelings, memories and characters at its heart could belong to almost any hometown.

Michael Judge, AKA Bill Rectangle,
author of STENHOUSE: Growing Up in 
Edinburgh and Beyond

Written under the name Bill Rectangle, the memoir isn't a conventional history of Edinburgh. Instead, Michael focuses on the ordinary things that made up childhood — the streets he knew, the people he grew up around, family stories and the seemingly small experiences that can become surprisingly significant to us all as we get older. His route to becoming an author is perhaps unexpected: after more than 30 years working in IT, he turned his attention to capturing those memories, completing the book in around 95 days.

Michael calls his approach the “Cinematic Layering Technique”, using atmosphere, sound and sensory detail to bring genuine memories to life. We caught up with him to talk about growing up in Stenhouse, the Edinburgh of his childhood, the memories behind STENHOUSE, and his journey from IT professional to first-time author.

STENHOUSE: Growing Up in Edinburgh and Beyond

Firstly, Michael, please tell us a little about your book.

STENHOUSE: Growing Up in Edinburgh and Beyond is a literary memoir about growing up in Stenhouse, Edinburgh, from the late 1970s through the 1980s and into the early 1990s. It is about family, friendships, school, football, ice skating, skiing, skateboarding, music, early technology, local characters and the freedom of an outdoor childhood, but it also includes the harder moments that helped shape me. At heart, it is a warm, honest and sometimes chaotic portrait of an ordinary Edinburgh childhood during a period of enormous social and technological change.

How or why did you come up with the pen name of Bill Rectangle?

The appeal of Bill Rectangle was that it was very clearly a pen name — something memorable, a little unusual and slightly humorous rather than another ordinary-sounding name. It gave me a distinct creative identity for STENHOUSE while still allowing me to be completely open that Michael Judge is the person behind it. That balance suited the book quite well: it is personal and truthful, but there is also a lot of humour and personality running through it. 

What prompted you to write this particular book?

I reached a point where I realised how much of the world I grew up in had already disappeared. The streets were still there, but the atmosphere, routines, local characters, childhood freedoms and way people interacted had changed enormously. I wanted to preserve those memories while I could still hear the voices, picture the places and remember the small details that make a life feel real.

I also wanted to record a working family history that might otherwise simply fade. The book began as something personal, but as it developed I realised that many readers of my generation could recognise parts of their own childhood in it even if they had never been anywhere near Stenhouse.

Tell us a bit about the difficulties that you encountered and how they affected the way you went about writing this book.

One of the most important parts of my story is that written English did not come easily to me when I was young. My Edinburgh accent affected the way I heard and spelled words, and I needed additional support at primary school. I later moved through further and higher education and built a long professional career in IT, but I never forgot what it felt like to struggle with writing at the beginning.

That experience made me very methodical with STENHOUSE. I worked slowly, reviewed repeatedly, checked consistency and treated my own lived experience as the single source of truth. Modern digital tools helped with organisation, spelling, grammar, accessibility and production, but the memories, decisions, tone and final verification remained mine throughout.

How did your experiences growing up in the area you describe shape the course of your life?

Stenhouse gave me a mixture of independence, curiosity and resilience. We spent a huge amount of time outside, moving between football, bikes, skateboards, parks, the Water of Leith and whatever adventure appeared next. At the same time, I had a very secure family home, so I think I grew up with both a willingness to explore and a strong sense of having a base to return to.

My fascination with early technology also started there. Calculators, video recorders, electronic games and the first home computers seemed almost magical to me. That curiosity eventually became a career in IT spanning around three decades. In that sense, the child in STENHOUSE who kept trying to understand how things worked is recognisably the same person I became professionally.

Do you have plans for more books in the near future and, if so, what can we expect?

Yes. STENHOUSE is Book One, and the natural continuation is a second major memoir beginning around the point I left school at sixteen and moving into the 1990s. That period opens a very different world: work, growing independence, music and club culture, technology, friendships and the transition from adolescence into adult life.

I am also developing age-appropriate younger-reader adaptations of the original material. I do not want to rush any of them simply to meet an artificial deadline; I would rather develop each project carefully and make sure it has a genuine reason to exist.

Having put a lot of work into establishing White Hat Media, what further plans do you have for its development? Are you sticking with books/audiobooks or planning to branch out?

White Hat Media began as the publishing identity behind STENHOUSE, but I deliberately built it as a broader creative platform rather than just a logo on a book. The project already includes paperback, Kindle, an author-narrated audiobook, video material, extracts, bonus content and an independent website. I am interested in developing further books, audio, interviews, documentary-style material and other formats where they genuinely suit the story.

I am also open to working with professional partners on rights, publishing, documentary or adaptation opportunities where there is a sensible creative and commercial fit. Judge IT Consulting is separate but connected through the technical side of what I do. My professional technology background gave me the skills to build much of the publishing and digital infrastructure independently, and the website is credited to Judge IT Consulting: https://www.judgeitconsulting.org/

How do you think your own experience of growing up there compares with that of kids growing up there today?

I would describe it as different rather than automatically better or worse. We had freedoms that would probably surprise some parents now: being outside for long periods, making our own games, cycling around, exploring parks and learning social rules directly from other children. We also had far less instant access to information, entertainment or communication.

Children today have extraordinary opportunities through technology, education and access to the wider world, but there is a trade-off. My childhood gave us a lot of unsupervised imagination and local community life because there simply was not a screen offering something else every minute. I think both generations gain things and lose things, and that contrast is one of the reasons I wanted to preserve the period honestly rather than pretend it was perfect.

Which writers would you say have had the biggest influence on you?

I would not claim that STENHOUSE was modelled closely on one particular writer. Its strongest influence was lived experience itself: family storytelling, Edinburgh voices, remembered dialogue, music, places and the rhythm of ordinary conversation. I wanted the prose to sound natural and close to memory rather than imitate somebody else’s literary voice.

I have always been interested in memoir and social history that can make ordinary lives feel worth recording. That principle influenced me more than any single stylistic model: the belief that a family house, a street, a park or a conversation can carry just as much human meaning as a traditionally ‘important’ historical event.

What has been your highlight or biggest achievement in this field?

Finishing the book and then taking it all the way through independent publication has been the biggest achievement. I did not only write it; I built the publishing identity, produced the paperback and Kindle editions, personally narrated the full audiobook, created the website and promotional material, and learned the practical realities of bringing a memoir to readers.

The fact that this began with somebody who once needed help with written English makes completing that full process especially meaningful to me. Whatever happens commercially from here, nobody can take away the fact that the book now exists in three formats and the memories have been preserved.

Can you tell us about your research methods?

The foundation was memory, because this is literary memoir rather than conventional history. My own lived experience remained the single source of truth. I then strengthened it by talking through family stories, looking again at photographs and locations, checking the sequence of places and people, and verifying period details where dates, technology, music or public events could be checked independently.

I was careful not to turn uncertain memories into false certainty. Dialogue is naturally recreated from memory and family telling, and some names and identifying details have been changed for privacy. The aim was emotional and factual honesty without pretending that human memory works like a recording device.

Can you tell us a bit about your writing process?

Most of the work was done in my own time outside my normal 9-to-5 professional life. I would work through memories in sections, expand them into scenes, then repeatedly revisit the material for chronology, tone, duplication and consistency. I found that one remembered object or place often unlocked several other memories, so the book grew organically rather than being produced from a rigid daily word-count target.

The editing stage was at least as important as the initial writing. I wanted the final book to feel like one continuous remembered world rather than a collection of disconnected anecdotes, so I spent a lot of time making sure people, places, ages and themes flowed naturally across the manuscript.

What advice would you give to new writers in your field?

Start with the truth you actually own. Do not worry about making an ordinary life sound artificially dramatic. The tiny details — a room, a smell, a pair of trainers, a local phrase, the way somebody laughed — are often what make memoir universal because they make it specific first.

I would also tell new writers not to be intimidated by the fact that the first draft is imperfect. Writing is not only inspiration; it is review, correction, structure and patience. Use whatever legitimate tools help you work, but keep responsibility for the truth, voice and final decisions firmly with yourself.

For more information and bonus material, please visit White Hat Media:

https://www.whitehatmedia.org/

You can see the short advert for the book here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0t7GQyo-vJk&feature=youtu.be

…or the full advert here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CS0XmZhEVqQ

STENHOUSE: Growing Up in Edinburgh and Beyond is available in e-book, paperback and audiobook formats. Follow the links below for buying options:

Paperback: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0H5WY8CGY

e-Book: https: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0H5KWPX2F

Audiobook:  https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0H8ZV8JZG/

If you are an author and have a book out, either self published or traditionally published and would be interested in being the subject of one of our author interviews, please email us in the first instance, at:

contact@brindlebooks.co.uk 

Repeat Offender: Crime Wave at Tangents Earns Second Bollinger Wodehouse Prize Nomination for Roderick Easdale.

 30th June 2026

Brindle Books Ltd is delighted to announce that Crime Wave at Tangents by Roderick Easdale has been nominated for the 2026 Bollinger Wodehouse Prize for Comic Literature.

Crime Wave at Tangents by Roderick Easdale

The nomination marks a remarkable second successive appearance on the prize nomination list for Easdale's Tangents series. His debut novel, Summer at Tangents, was nominated for the 2025 Bollinger Wodehouse Prize, establishing the fictional village of Tangents as a place where comedy, confusion and poor decision-making flourish in equal measure.

Now, with Crime Wave at Tangents, Easdale returns readers to the increasingly eventful community, where criminal activity appears to be spreading at a rate that local authorities find deeply concerning and literary judges apparently find highly entertaining.

Here at Brindle Books, we are absolutely thrilled. Having one Tangents novel nominated for the Bollinger Wodehouse Prize was wonderful. Having a second nominated suggests either a growing appreciation for Roderick Easdale's comic genius or a serious containment failure in the village of Tangents. We are choosing to believe the former.

The news was greeted enthusiastically throughout Brindle Books headquarters, where celebrations reportedly included tea, biscuits and several minutes of dignified cheering before matters got completely out of hand.

Roderick Easdale responded to the announcement with characteristic modesty.

"It is an enormous honour," he said. "I am particularly pleased that the judges have once again agreed to visit Tangents, although I feel obliged to apologise for what they found when they got there."

The Bollinger Wodehouse Prize for Comic Literature celebrates the finest humorous writing and is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious awards in comic fiction. To receive a nomination once is a significant achievement; to receive nominations in consecutive years suggests that the residents of Tangents have developed an impressive commitment to causing trouble.

Author Roderick Easdale

The nomination also arrives ahead of the publication of the third novel in the series, Terror at Tangents, which will be released later this year. Readers can therefore look forward to discovering what fresh chaos, confusion and questionable judgement await the long-suffering inhabitants of the village.

Industry observers have noted that most fictional communities are content with the occasional mystery or minor scandal. Tangents, by contrast, appears determined to experience every conceivable catastrophe while remaining oddly cheerful about the whole thing.

Whether Crime Wave at Tangents ultimately claims the prize remains to be seen. For now, we are celebrating a second consecutive nomination and preparing for the publication of Terror at Tangents with a mixture of pride, excitement and a growing suspicion that the village should perhaps invest in a larger police station.

You can find out more, read a sample, or buy a copy by clicking HERE

Lloyd Morrison Launches Bridled by Loyalty, the First Epic Instalment in the Riders of the Three Kingdoms Saga

 

28th January 2026

Bridled By Loyalty
by Lloyd Morrison

A sweeping new historical saga begins this year with the release of Bridled by Loyalty, the debut novel by Lloyd Morrison and the first book in the ambitious Riders of the Three Kingdoms series. Set against the tense and transformative years of 1641–1642, as England stands on the brink of civil war, the novel follows the intertwined fates of the Akins and Stephens families—two households bound by friendship, divided by allegiance, and tested by a rapidly changing world.

Packed with adventure, romance, and masterful horsemanship, Bridled by Loyalty plunges readers into the dawn of the English Civil War, where loyalties are questioned, friendships strained, and the cost of conviction grows dangerously high. Through richly drawn characters and meticulous period detail, Morrison captures the charged atmosphere of a kingdom unravelling, offering a story as intimate as it is epic.

A Lifelong Passion Turned Into Storytelling

Lloyd Morrison’s love of history began in childhood during a family trip to Devon. A spontaneous stop at a now-forgotten castle—and an encounter with reenactors portraying medieval knights and archers—sparked a fascination that never faded. From that moment, Morrison immersed himself in the past, exploring historical eras with boundless curiosity.

He eventually became a reenactor himself, particularly within the Wars of the Roses period as part of the Duke of Beaufort’s Household. During those early years, he began drafting a story that would evolve into the prequel to Riders of the Three Kingdoms. His commitment to authenticity led him to HEMA, where he studied historical manuscripts to understand how people of earlier centuries truly fought. Alongside this, he developed into a skilled horseman, which is evident in the description of equestrian skills in the book.

A chance visit to a Sealed Knot event later shifted his interest toward the 17th century. This spark was fanned into flame by historian Mark Turnbull’s Cavalier podcast, which revealed a century brimming with political tension, personal drama, and vivid storytelling potential. For Morrison, it became the perfect backdrop for a sweeping family epic.

Raised in Chipping Sodbury, with the historic Little Sodbury Manor as a near-constant presence, Morrison found fertile ground for building the worlds and characters his readers now meet. His lifelong engagement with history, hands-on reenactment experience, swordplay studies, and passion for horses infuse Bridled by Loyalty with realism, emotion, and immersive detail.

Lloyd Morrison

A New Voice in Historical Fiction

With Bridled by Loyalty, Lloyd Morrison steps onto the literary stage as an exciting new voice in historical fiction—one whose work promises depth, authenticity, and unforgettable storytelling. Fans of Bernard Cornwell, Philippa Gregory, Stuart Turton, and S.G. MacLean will find much to love in this gripping tale of families caught in conflict, hearts pulled in opposing directions, and the enduring bonds that hold people together even as a nation falls apart.

Bridled by Loyalty is now available through major booksellers in both paperback (ISBN: 978-1-915631-17-6) and digital formats.

To find out more, purchase a copy, or read a sample, please click HERE

Burgos and Beyond by David J Blackmore

 26th December 2025

Burgos and Beyond, the Sixth Instalment in David J. Blackmore’s Acclaimed Wellington’s Dragoon Series is out now from Brindle Books Ltd.

Brindle Books Ltd is proud to announce the publication of Burgos and Beyond, the much-anticipated sixth book in David J. Blackmore’s popular historical-military fiction series, Wellington’s Dragoon. Rich with authentic period detail and gripping battlefield drama, the novel continues the adventures of Michael Roberts, an officer of the 16th Light Dragoons, as he rides once more into the turbulent heart of the Peninsular War.

Set in the early 1800s during Britain’s struggle against Napoleon’s armies, Burgos and Beyond picks up with Roberts and his comrades facing new hardships, new enemies, and the unrelenting uncertainty of war. From the desperate retreat after the failed Siege of Burgos to the sweeping advances that follow, Blackmore delivers a vivid, human portrayal of courage, loyalty, and survival against the backdrop of one of Europe’s most dramatic military campaigns.

“David J. Blackmore combines meticulous historical research with compelling storytelling,” said Richard Hinchliffe, Director of Brindle Books Ltd. “Readers who have followed Michael Roberts’s journey from the outset will find Burgos and Beyond to be an exhilarating and emotionally resonant continuation of the saga, while newcomers can expect an immersive and engaging introduction to the world of the 16th Light Dragoons.”

The Wellington’s Dragoon series has garnered praise for its authenticity, character depth, and cinematic depiction of cavalry warfare—qualities that have made it a favourite among fans of Bernard Cornwell, Patrick O’Brian, and other masters of historical fiction.

Burgos and Beyond is now available in paperback (ISBN: 978-1-915631-27-5) and digital formats. 

You can read a sample or order a copy by clicking HERE

Crime Wave at Tangents: Teeing off another hilarious adventure in the latest novel release from Brindle Books

26th November 2025

Crime Wave at Tangents

You can read a sample of Crime Wave at Tangents, or purchase a copy by clicking HERE

Brindle Books Ltd is delighted—if slightly alarmed—to announce the publication of Crime Wave at Tangents, the newest comic novel from Roderick Easdale, who has once again turned the genteel village of Tangents into a hotbed of delightful chaos.

In this uproarious sequel to the widely praised Summer at Tangents, life in Tangents is proceeding with its usual mild confusion when property developers, armed with blueprints, ambition, and probably far too many clipboards, set their sights on the village’s golf club.

Naturally, the golf club committee springs into action. Or rather, it ambles into action, stops for tea, and gets thoroughly distracted and argumentative.

Can they save their cherished club and village life as Tangents knows it?

Is a highwayman really scouting out the village?

What has the unexplained appearance of a large wooden camel got to do with anything?

Will Willoughby’s imaginative ways to evade the diet his wife has imposed on him bear fruit, or indeed any sort of food?

Crime Wave at Tangents answers these questions and many more you never knew you had.

Richard Hinchliffe, Director of Brindle Books Ltd said: “When Roderick Easdale sent us his first novel, Summer at Tangents, I was immediately hooked and accepted it for publication, even though we had never published in that genre before. I was overjoyed to see this sequel in my inbox, giving us the chance to revisit Tangents and to catch up with the brilliantly eccentric characters.”

The new novel follows on from Summer at Tangents, which enjoyed a triumphant reception, being named one of Country Life magazine's Books of the Year for 2024 and earning a nomination for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction.

About the Author:

Roderick Easdale writes about a world he knows well, having been a member of six golf clubs and worked as a golf journalist for more than 25 years. He also has a keen eye for the absurdities of village life—and a willingness to gently poke them with a nine-iron. His previous novel, Summer at Tangents, earned widespread acclaim for its humour and warmth.

He explains: “The village of Tangents is entirely fictional, but it was inspired by one of the clubs I have been a member at where the surrounding village had little other than this golf club. Thus the golf clubhouse became the centre of activity for all the locals, whether golfers or not, and acted as the local pub and restaurant.”

“Behind the humour of the Tangents novels is a serious message about saving communal village life. Over the years, my own village has lost its church, post office, shop and now even its postbox. As one of the characters in Crime Wave at Tangents says, the desire is to preserve the village as ‘a living entity, rather than somewhere people go to sleep and sit in armchairs and watch their televisions and occasionally take the dog out for a walk’.” 

Critics on Summer at Tangents:

Summer At Tangents

You can read a sample or buy a copy of Summer at Tangents HERE

“Effervescently amusing… hopefully the first of many P.G. Wodehouse-esque tales of golf and village life from Roderick Easdale” — Country Life

“A brilliant comic novel” — Golfshake

“A beautifully crafted tale involving many laugh-out loud moments” — Golf Monthly

“Roderick Easdale effortlessly delivers in this witty, feel-good novel” — Golf Today

“A witty, warm-hearted, beautifully written, cleverly told story” — Planet Golf Review

Book Details

* Title: Crime Wave at Tangents

* Author: Roderick Easdale

* Publisher: Brindle Books Ltd

* Format: Paperback and e-book.

* ISBN: 978-1-915631-26-8

You can read a sample of Crime Wave at Tangents, or purchase a copy by clicking HERE

Availability

Crime Wave at Tangents is available now from booksellers nationwide, online bookstores, and anywhere that appreciates laughter, golf, or communities in modest disarray. 

Brindle Books Interview with C. Q. Turnstone, author of Avarice of Empire, due for release on 6th March 2025.

 

22nd February 2025

C.Q. Turnstone is an historian and author of biographical historical fiction. His debut novel, Avarice of Empire, will be published by Brindle Books on 6th March 2025. We caught up with him recently to ask him about the book and his writing process.

Let's start with your book. How would you sum up what it's about?

First and last, Avarice of Empire is the true story of the life of a nineteenth-century British cavalry officer called Charles Agnew, what drove him to seek adventure in India, and how he came to meet an untimely end 'by the hand of assassin'. More than that, though, it's also about the fortitude of Victorian women, class division and colonial prejudice, early photography and the embryonic intelligence service, a revolution in global communications, and how an Irishman discovered what would become India’s largest gold mine.

So historical fiction, but still a true story?

That's right, yes. It's biographical in spirit and detail, and tells a story about real people and events with as much historical accuracy as possible. However, that 'as possible' is an important caveat. A true story can only ever be as true as an author's interpretation of the available historical evidence allows it to be. Creative leaps of imagination are necessary to fill in the gaps. That's the case with non-fiction biography and history as well. Whether you're talking about things that happened this morning or millennia ago, it's impossible to know everything about a given situation from every perspective or what motivated someone to make a particular decision. 

What inspired you to write about Charles Agnew in the first place?

I'd always wanted to write a novel — it's a pretty common ambition, I'm sure. I toyed with various ideas over the years, but none of them ever quite worked. Then on a chance visit to Canterbury Cathedral on a rainy Sunday in May 2015, I noticed a memorial to a cavalry officer who'd been killed "by the hand of an assassin" in Egypt in 1873. I was intrigued by that unique turn of phrase, just as countless other people must have been during the past century and a half. I wanted to know who Charles Agnew was, what he'd been doing in Egypt, why he was killed and by whom? When I began researching the answers to those questions, I knew immediately it was a story I needed to tell.

How did you approach the research?

About a year after finishing Avarice of Empire I began studying towards a Masters in Imperial and Global History at the University of Exeter. As you might expect, that's given me all sorts of insights into how to conduct historical research with academic rigour. However, when I was researching the book I was just figuring things out for myself as I went along — learning on the job, so to speak. I thoroughly enjoy the research process, especially the privilege of examining things like letters, scrap books, and photograph albums that the people I'm writing about actually held in their hands. A great deal of archive material has been digitised in recent years, which makes the research task easier in all sorts of ways, but there's no substitute for visiting an archive or a story location in person. Among many other places, my research included visits to the 16th Lancers' regimental museum near Newark, the Stoke-on-Trent City Archives, and a certain public house in Tilbury.

What was the most interesting thing you found out about Charles Agnew?

Without giving anything specific away, it was fascinating to discover the multi-dimensional and often unpredictable nature of his character.

Does the story have an underlying message or moral?

You can safely assume it isn't a nostalgic celebration of imperial colonialism. I hope that much is obvious from the title alone. Beyond that — and this is something that emerged from the history without me contriving it — is that the expression of human qualities such as courage, resilience, and compassion, cuts across boundaries of race, class, gender, and faith.

How did you approach writing about other cultures?

With great care, particularly to avoid falling into the traps of stereotyping and cliche. Thorough research is crucial. I invited a number of people (from Ireland and India, for example) to act as sensitivity readers, and found their feedback incredibly helpful.

Did you feel a sense of responsibility towards the people you were writing about, perhaps especially those who may have living descendants?

That's a great question and, yes, I very much did. It's something I touch on in the Historical Note at the end of the book. My self-imposed rule from the beginning was a kind of respectful realism: I would always be guided by the available documentary evidence, and I wouldn't knowingly misrepresent anyone, but neither would I pretend that prevailing social and cultural attitudes had no influence. People are complicated creatures after all, and it's those complications that make a story interesting.

What were the differences between writing real versus fictional characters?

I've never counted how many real people feature in the book (lots), but there are only six fictional named characters. They served the very specific purpose of broadening the story and helping to connect its different aspects, and of course I could do whatever I liked with them without breaking my own rules. Fictional characters require much less research than real ones, although I found that the more detailed I made their backstories, the easier it was to bring them to life on the page. The actual writing is really no different at all. In fact, as the story developed the fictional characters became as 'real' to me as the real ones.

What kind of reader do you think will enjoy Avarice of Empire?

I'd certainly like to imagine that it will appeal to anyone who already knows they have a taste for historical fiction, or failing that at least a general interest in nineteenth-century life. The story inevitably features a degree of military history, although perhaps not in a way that might typically appeal to enthusiasts. Based on feedback received from test readers, in terms of factors like age, genre preference, and existing knowledge of the period, I'm delighted that the book seems to appeal to a much wider audience than I'd expected.

If you had to be one of the characters in the story, which one would you choose?

That's quite a tough one! I suppose it would have to be Morgan Farrell.

Whether historical or otherwise, which authors of fiction have been most influential on your writing?

I'm drawn to crafted storytelling with complex plot interconnections and memorable characters, and the more sweeping in scope the better. With that in mind, the three authors I'd say have had the most influence on my writing aspirations are Bernard Cornwell, Hilary Mantel, and Ken Follett. There's a long list of others I admire and enjoy as well though, of course, from Robert Louis Stevenson, R.M. Ballantyne and Arthur Conan Doyle, whom I read over and over as a child, to the likes of George Orwell, William Golding, Sebastian Faulks, R.F. Kuang, Anthony Doerr, Percival Everett, Tan Twan Eng, Elif Shafak, Kazuo Ishiguro, Douglas Stuart, and Simon Mawer.

What do you think is the most important quality and/or skill for a writer of historical fiction?

Without a doubt, the most important quality is empathy — for both characters and readers. The most important skill is harder to pinpoint, because so many are crucial. I'm going to dodge the question slightly and say that the skill I've probably found most useful is being able to 'be in the scene'. In other words, visualising what a scene looks/sounds/smells like from the perspective of an invisible observer standing next to, behind, in front of, or far away from the other characters.

Can you tell us a bit about your writing process?

I discovered a while back that listening to classical music (headphones rather than 'in the room') really helps with maintaining focus and lubricating the wheels of creativity. Personally, I write better in the morning and edit better in the afternoon. I'm also someone who continually edits as they write rather than rough drafting and editing later (although there's plenty of editing later as well.) I don't set myself word count targets per day. Some days the words come easy, some days they don't. My preference is always for quality over quantity. Once I find my way into a new chapter or new scene, the rest usually emerges readily enough.

What advice would you give to new writers?

I'm quite certain I'm nowhere near qualified enough to give anyone advice about writing, except perhaps to recommend ignoring advice on social media and just write what you'll enjoy reading. That said, you can't go far wrong with George Orwell's six rules of writing and Stephen King's prohibition of adverbs (other than in dialogue.)

After Avarice of Empire, what's next?

The story will continue.

Avarice of Empire will be released on 6th March 2025

published by Brindle Books Ltd.

You can pre-order the e-book now by clicking

HERE

Summer At Tangents makes the Country Life 'Books of the Year' List for 2024

 

15th December 2024

Country Life magazine has named its Books Of The Year in its 316-page Christmas double issue, and we are delighted to see that among the ten novels selected is one that Brindle Books brought out – Summer At Tangents, which we published in May.

The magazine writes that “Summer At Tangents, hopefully the first of many P. G. Wodehouse-esque tales of golf and village life from Roderick Easdale, is effervescently amusing.”

This is Roderick’s first novel, but his is not the only debut novel to make its way into the long-standing weekly magazine’s Books Of The Year. It is joined by Miranda Pountney’s “wow of a debut novel” How To Be Somebody, which is published by Vintage.

These take their place among works by more established writers such as Robert Harris’ Precipice, and Armistead Maupin’s Mona of the Manor, which is the tenth novel in his Tales of the City series.

Roderick’s novel is not the only one of Country Life’s selection to be set against a sporting background, as Charles Blanning’s 1920s-set thriller Electric Rabbit is about the first Greyhound racing activities in the country. 

Crime and detective works feature heavily, with Peter James’s One Of Us Is Dead; the “witty, perceptive” Kate Atkinson’s Death at the Sign of the Rook, and John Banville’s The Drowned, “a darkly compelling procedural that is unnervingly astute about human foibles.”

David Nicholls’ “tenderly funny” love story You Are Here and Andrew O’Hagan’s Caledonian Road round out the 10 novels selected. 

Country Life’s Books Of The Year also includes their extensive selection of non-fiction works as well as Rupert Everett’s “witty collection of short-stories, The American No, which shows he is as magnetic a writer as an actor.”

Summer At Tangents is available from Amazon by clicking HERE

and from Blackwell's by clicking HERE

Yet another great national press review for Summer at Tangents

11th November 2024

The good reviews continue to appear in the national press for Summer At Tangents. As Roderick Easdale's novel was the first comic novel to be published by Brindle Books, we are pleased that the reviewers are enjoying it every but as much as we did when we first read the manuscript!

The latest review is by golf magazine Planet Golf Review which has reviewed Summer At Tangents in its issue 29. We will happily leave you to read the full review, but we will just say its conclusion is:

“Roderick Easdale, a golf writer of long experience, clearly knows his way around golf clubs and depicts the actions of a cast of colourful and entertaining characters with a real eye for their absurdities, frailties and mostly well-intentioned natures in this witty, warm-hearted, beautifully written, cleverly told story.” 

Roderick Easdale

This follows on from the other positive previews that this novel has been receiving in the press. Country Life said that “Roderick Easdale is an authority on P. G. Wodehouse and he is clearly channelling the great author in this rollicking tale of golf-club shenanigans in a very English village. Sentences are brilliantly crafted, tongue twisting in their ability to inspire befuddlement in the book’s more unfortunate characters. These hail from a cast list of which Evelyn Waugh would be proud.”

Golf Monthly said it was “a superb comic novel ... a beautifully crafted tale involving many laugh-out loud moments.” 

Golfshake described it as “a brilliant comic novel but also, ultimately, a feel-good story”; and Golf Today wrote that “Roderick Easdale effortlessly delivers in this witty, feel-good novel.” 

 You can buy the eBook or paperback from Amazon by clicking HERE

You can buy the paperback from Blackwell's by clicking HERE

The Road To Madrid: Book Five in David J Blackmore's Wellington's Dragoon Series - Out Now.

 18th October 2024

Brindle Books are pleased to announce the release of The Road to Madrid, the fifth book in David J Blackmore’s acclaimed Wellington’s Dragoon saga. The action-packed series chronicles the adventures of Michael Roberts, an officer in the 16th Light Dragoons, fighting against Napoleon’s armies in the early 1800’s.

Dr Blackmore’s series has received praise for the way in which he blends action and adventure with solid historical background, due to his in-depth knowledge of the period. He worked for the Royal Armouries Museum for 26 years, for most of them as the Museum’s Registrar, and was part of the creative team for the Royal Armouries in Leeds.

He is also the author of four non-fiction books; ‘Arms and Armour of the English Civil Wars’, ‘British Cavalry in the Mid-18th Century’, ‘Destructive and Formidable, British Infantry Firepower, 1642 – 1765’, (the published version of his PhD thesis from Nottingham Trent University) and ‘So Bloody a Day; the 16th Light Dragoons in the Waterloo Campaign’.

The Road To Madrid

Returning to the Peninsular, Michael Roberts finds himself plunged back into the intelligence war in Lisbon.

Joining the army in Spain he meets old friends, fights at Villagarcia, and, with Don Julian Sanchez, scours the road to Madrid, finding romance on the way.

He is present at the great victory of Salamanca and marches with Wellington to Madrid, where his success in the intelligence war comes at a price.

To find out more, or to purchase The Road to Madrid or any volume in the Wellington's Dragoon series, please click HERE

Summer At Tangents by Roderick Easdale added to Brindle Books 99p E-Book sale - Limited Time Offer

 

3rd September 2024

Summer at Tangents is currently available in e-book format at the reduced price of 99p

You can find out more, read a sample or purchase the e-book by clicking HERE

For a Limited time, Brindle Books Ltd are adding Summer At Tangents by Roderick Easdale to our 99p e-book sale.

The book has received great reviews from critics for its quintessentially English humour, Easdale's style being reminiscent of the late, great P G Wodehouse.

Here at Brindle Books, we are on a mission to get more people reading new books and discovering new authors, so the books need to be affordable for people to try out, especially when we are competing for readers attention with all the classics and public domain books that are out there for free. This is why we've convinced some of our authors to agree to put their books out, for a limited time, at a bargain price.

You can see the full list of the books in our 99p e-book offer on our BOOKS page.

Brindle Books Ltd 99p e-book sale. Ten great reads at an affordable price.

4th August 2024

Here at Brindle Books Ltd, we like to ensure that as many people as possible have access to great reads. We also know that times are hard and budgets are tight for a lot of people right now. With this in mind, we have decided to offer a selection of our titles at a reduced price.

Listed below are a list of ten e-book titles which we are now offering at the reduced price of 99p (or 99c in the USA). You can use the links below to go straight to each books sales page, or go straight to our books page to see our full list of titles by clicking HERE 

Here are our 99p/99c e-books:

   

NORMANBY by P G Dixon 

Pawns were made to be sacrificed.

When Tom Grant is transferred from the glamour of MI5 to a little-known intelligence department, he begins to think that his career is on the slide.

Then, the investigation into the death of an agent leads him into a plot to strike at the heart of the UK…

...But who can he trust? The Colonel – the loud and overbearing Department head?

Major Green – the dashing war hero with the dedicated team?

...or Normanby – the prim bureaucrat with dark secrets in his past?

To buy NORMANBY for 99p, click HERE

A Little Book of Strange Tales by Richard Hinchliffe

A Little Book of Strange Tales, is a short collection of stories and rhymes to send a shiver down your spine.

Journey with us from the coldest depths of Outer Space to the burning pits of Hell in this small collection of unsettling weirdness..

To buy A Little Book of Strange Tales for 99p, click HERE

My Time Again by Sophia Moseley

Everyone turned to look at Kathy as she walked slowly past. She knew in her heart it was wrong. Her head screamed "No", but she went ahead anyway.

Have you ever wished you could undo a decision you’ve made? Return to that crossroad in your past and take a different path instead. What alternative life might have awaited you? And what of those you now know and love? Change what has been, and they might never exist at all.

Fate, which you cannot control, predetermines all events. Yet, your destiny is in your hands. Or is it? Which one is the dominant force?

To buy My Time Again for 99p, click HERE

Unseen Follower by Sophia Moseley

How many friends and followers do you have on social media? Tens, hundreds, maybe even thousands?

Hidden in the shadows of the digital realm, an ominous presence lurks.

In Unseen Follower, the virtual world become a labyrinth of secrets. A place where you cannot know who is watching your every click, tracking your every move.

The twenty-first century obsession to be part of the global social circle may lead you into the clutches of the follower who monitors your every post, every like, every share.

That person who glanced at you from across the road or stood behind you in the supermarket; you don’t know them, but they may know where you live, where you work, and where you buy your coffee.

Do you know who’s following you?

Based on real events, Unseen Follower will make you question who is.

To buy Unseen Follower for 99p, click HERE

The ERASED series by Mark Bridgeman

ERASED 1: The Missing Millionaire

Erased: A new series of intriguing missing person cases from around the world by Mark Bridgeman, author of The 'Lost' Village of Lawers. The first book in the series is 'The Missing Millionaire', in which the author investigates the mysterious disappearance of an American millionaire in London, England, in 1913.

To buy The Missing Millionaire for 99p, click HERE

ERASED 2: The Empty House

The second entry in Mark Bridgeman’s ERASED series takes us back to the Golden Age of Hollywood in the late 1940’s, and a true-life mystery as intriguing as any film noir classic of the period.

To buy The Empty House for 99p, click HERE

ERASED 3: The Dancer Who Disappeared

Los Angeles 1949. A series of brutal unsolved murders and unexplained disappearances has terrified the female population and confounded the authorities. But for one beautiful, budding dancer and actress the world seemed a very different place. Days after appearing alongside one of Hollywood's biggest stars in her first big movie break, she kissed her 5-year-old daughter goodbye and headed out for a mysterious night-time rendezvous - never to be seen again. A spine tingling and bewildering true story set in the golden era of Hollywood, when the silver screen reflected the City of Angel's menacing side. But what really happened to The Dancer Who Disappeared?

To buy The Dancer Who Disappeared for 99p, click HERE

ERASED 4: When The Trail Goes Cold

Five people go missing in five years, all within a few miles of each other. Always at the same time of day, and always at the same time of year. The police are baffled. Are the disappearances connected or is it purely a coincidence? Or is it something far more sinister . .

To buy When The Trail Goes Cold for 99p, click HERE

ERASED 5: The Legs on the Train Murder

A gruesome discovery on a London train shocks the nation. Has the man behind a series of unsolved murders struck again? As Scotland Yard detectives race to solve the riddle of the missing man, another macabre discovery changes the course of the investigation.

To buy The Legs on the Train Murder for 99p, click HERE

ERASED 6: Her Fame is Oblivion

New York. 1910. The end of The Gilded Age. When the heiress daughter of a millionaire businessman vanishes without a trace from one of the busiest streets in the world, in broad daylight, the ensuing investigation only seems to raise more questions.

Where did she go? What happened in the House of Mystery? Why did she rent a private mailbox? And, what secret was she really keeping?

The author's comprehensive investigation into the mysterious disappearance of a socialite and heiress to a fortune, is the most detailed study ever written of, what the New York Police Department, called the 'greatest missing person mystery of the 20th century'.

'Her Fame is Oblivion' is the sixth in ERASED, the eBook series of real-life missing persons mysteries available on Amazon Kindle, from Mark Bridgeman, best-selling author of The Nearly Man, Perthshire's Pound of Flesh, and The Dark Side of the Dales.

To buy Her Fame is Oblivion for 99p, click HERE

Happy reading, and don't forget to bookmark our BOOKS page to keep up to date with our new releases.

One For Sorrow by Sophia Moseley

 14th July 2024

Brindle Books Ltd are pleased to announce our latest release, One For Sorrow by Sophia Moseley is available now in paperback and eBook formats.

One For Sorrow

There wasn’t a day that went by without Laura feeling a sense of guilt for what happened to her daughter.

Charlotte’s fear was so entrenched in her subconscious, and conscious mind, she had to be sure she could trust those people around her.

But fear goes hand in hand with vulnerability, and with vulnerability comes weakness, and when you’re weak, you crave security, but it can come at a cost.

You can purchase One For Sorrow in eBook or paperback from AMAZON by clicking HERE

You can purchase One For Sorrow in paperback from Blackwell's by clicking HERE