Scientific journal Nature has just published a high-resolution dataset of roads of the Roman Empire by an international group of academics that suggests a much more extensive Road network than we could have imagined. The new map – an online database called Itiner-e – has been compiled from a number of different sources, including earlier databases, satellite images and archaeological reports.

Earlier in June, I waxed lyrical about Dresden in southeast Germany which was the scene for several chapters in my latest thriller Double Stakes. Never having been there, I had written heroine Mel and hero Jeff's scenes using Google Maps. What a shocking admission! Moving a character through a place needs a lot of research and it's a good thing I'm a map enthusiast (read: obsessive).

The 2025 Ursula K Le Guin Prize for Fiction is about to be awarded. It’s for works that are categorised as ‘imaginative fiction’ - they have elements of science fiction and fantasy, but also of literary. What does this look like? Everyone has their own description. Here’s mine: they bend reality, maybe slightly, maybe a lot. It might be a dystopian element, a touch of magic, the supernatural or an invention that would be impossible with the science we have right now.

I’m delighted to welcome Alison Morton back to my blog. You’d think that creating a successful eleven-book series about Roma Nova, an imaginary European country where a remnant of the Roman Empire – ...

Consider non-Amazon retailers but accept the reality that Amazon reaches every part of the reading world. And authors need Amazon.

I’m delighted to welcome Alison Morton back to my blog. You’d think that creating a successful eleven-book series about Roma Nova, an imaginary European country where a remnant of the Roman Empire – ...