The trouble with writing historical fiction is that the genre is dominated by stories of political intrigue and famous females, like the Other Boleyn. Bernard Cornwell, Hornblower and Nigel Tranter are a kind of sub group to which my interest belongs. I want to do something on the Stuart era which has been overlooked because of Bonny Prince Charlie and his Jacobites. I'll get a good handle on the thing by the time I've reworked the first Fergus Findlay novel and maybe laid out a sequel to Bubbles in the Cauldron but I am intrigued by the Dunkirque pirates and the navy of Samuel Pepys. I've slept in the marina that is one of the remaining structures of the old Chatham dockyard, infested by the Dutch in the era and which will no doubt feature in the series. As yet I have only vague ideas of characters and it may turn out to be a collection of stand alone books rather than a simple series. I'd like to keep most of it in Highland waters, but I don't think that will limit the possible tales as I already have two good incidents , maybe three if I include the Allan-a-sop story from Sir Walter Scott' tales of a Grandfather.

In the meantime I'm rather pleased with the matt cover of Bubbles in the Cauldron as it can be read from an angle better than a glossy. I've been told to work hard at a title but I'm beginning to feel the cover design is what draws the eye and invites a reader to look at the blurb on the back, so I want Drover to have something that says, come and look at me.

http://sullatoberdalton.com/pen-sullatober



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