Category: SUSPENSE

Vampire Snakes & the Holy Grail of mythic beasts

An ex-spy wakes up in an inescapable 13th Century dungeon; no light, no food, no way out!

The Devil’s Own Dice is Book 3 in the Ordo Lupus and the Blood Moon Prophecy series, which precedes the Grail of the Secret Sun, part one of The Hole Inside the Earth – quest for the the Holy Grail.

Vampire Snakes & the Holy Grail of mythic beasts

“A ‘Fully Loaded’ Novel” – 1DreamReader on Amazon

It’s pitch black, he doesn’t know his jailer or remember his name.

Could his captors be his arch-enemies; the Biblical vampire Serpents, the Holy Grail of mythic beasts?

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Boddington Fort: Inspiration for Tolkien?

Boddington Fort - looking North-west — Boddington Fort – looking North-west

The Ridgeway, England’s oldest road at 7000 years, runs along the Chiltern Hills, as it heads South to Avebury in Dorset.

My stepmother passed away in the last week and my father passed away almost exactly a year ago. I wasn’t close to either in the final decades, but it made me think about the Autumn of life. I suppose post Covid, many of us have lost family, so it seems appropriate to post something personal, because I last did this during lockdown.

(Right-click the image to see the high-resolution version)

Last week, knowing she hadn’t long, I decided to walk part of the Ridgeway, the oldest road in Britain at 7000 years. I walked the first part, going south from Pitstone Hill to Tring Station (~10.5 miles), in the sweltering heat of the 2022 Summer. I thought this section, from Tring Station to Wendover Station (~10.5 miles) would be a doddle. I was wrong!

I believe Boddington Fort is a serious candidate for Tolkien’s inspiration for the hilltop clearing in the Old Forest from The Fellowship of the Ring. Here’s why.

Continue reading “Boddington Fort: Inspiration for Tolkien?” →

Operation Peppermint: Radiological Fallout

Operation Peppermint
The hazards posed to nuclear veterans – whether personnel (including down wind civilians) were present at Trinity, Hiroshima and Nagasaki (included the targeted civilians) or at nuclear test areas thereafter – were well known prior to the formation of Manhattan Project. Indeed, radiation sickness had been fully described by medical authorities in Europe and the US in the 1930s. The radium dial painters – their illnesses and suffering – were tracked by US authorities from the 1920s until the last worker died in the 1990s (making this the first human radiation experiment conducted without victim permission). Many such workers suffered decades of ill health, many died in the 20s and 30s.

Source (no longer online)

Read more about WWII radiation experiments, including the project to build and detonate a Nazi Atomic Bomb in my forthcoming book: December Radio, to be published around 29 January 2016 by A-Argus. Continue reading “Operation Peppermint: Radiological Fallout” →