Edgar Allan Poe and the Jewel of Peru (hardback edition) is released today, 8 May, in the USA, an interesting launch date choice as it is also the anniversary of the 1844 burning of St. Augustine Church in Philadelphia, which is a key location in the novel. The story takes place just before Edgar Allan Poe, his wife Virginia, and his mother-in-law Maria Clemm moved to New York in early April 1844. In the preceding months, nativists or 'native Americans' — settlers born in the

A short post to commemorate the death on this day (27 January) of ornithologist and artist John James Audubon (1785 – 1851). Audubon was born in Haiti, spent much of his childhood in France, and emigrated to America, initially to run his father's 284 acre farm in Mill Grove, about 20 miles from Philadelphia. Audubon had been fascinated by birds since childhood and he began his study of them in earnest at Mill Grove. He also met his wife, Lucy Bakewell, there. Audubon had the

At last, a first draft of Edgar Allan Poe and the Jewel of Peru is completed after writing flat-out (but far too slowly) to meet my end of February deadline. And of course I've neglected this website/ 'blog'. There's much I could have written about -- the many enticing research-rabbit holes I went down (and occasionally got lost in), but the tricky part about that is: a) spending too long writing mini-essays or reveries rather than working on the novel b) giving too much of