REVIEW: Attila: The Gathering of the Storm by William Napier

Attila: The Gathering of the Storm by Wiliam Napier 2 out of 5 So this is marginally better than the first in the series. It deals with Attila’s return from exile and his gathering of the various Hun tribes to march against Rome. That’s about it. Not much else happens in the plot. In my […]

Word Count-O-Meter

I would like to direct your attention to my new word count-o-meter in the sidebar. I read Writing Fiction for Dummies recently and Ingermanson recommends setting a weekly writing goal and a suitable punishment for not reaching that goal. Unemployed student that I am I’ve set the (perhaps overly ambitious) goal of 10,000 words a […]

Undergraduate Awards & DRHEA 2011

So it’s that time of year again, where I frantically try and compress 3,000 word essays into 100 word abstracts foe submission to the undergraduate awards of Ireland and Norhtern Ireland and the undergraduate research conference run by the DRHEA. Undergraduate Awards for this you can submit up to three coursework essays along with a […]

REVIEW: ‘Smoke and Mirrors’ by Neil Gaiman

      Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman        8 out of 10         My friends have been trying to get me into Neil Gaiman for a while. Good Omens, which he co-authored with Terry Pratchett is one of my favourite books. I eventually tried American Gods and hated […]

REVIEW: ‘Ship of Rome’ by John Stack

Ship of Rome: Masters of the Sea 1 by John Stack 7 out of 10 I first read about Stack when an account of him writing this series about the Punic wars and getting a Harper Collins three book deal was published in the Irish Independent. However I’ve been unable to get a copy of it […]

Bloomsday 2011

I confess I never finished Ulysses. I got as far as the Wandering Rocks episode (about halfways through) and then college hit and it wasn’t compulsory so I dropped it. Don’t get me wrong, It’s a brilliant book, it deserves the fame. But it also deserves it’s reputation as a difficult book. I read the […]

REVIEW: ‘Attila’ by William Napier

Attila: The end of the world will come from the East by William Napier 2 out of 10 I recently completed a module on the Later Roman Empire called Christians, Barbarians and the Fall of Rome. Roughly 4 months of lectures, study, exams, essay and there was not one mention of Attila the Hun. I […]

Creative Writing Drinking Games

As promised: Alcohol induced literary madness gleaned from the finest corners of the internet! 1. The players in this game stand in a line and each person will say a part of a story. This can be as short as one sentence per person; however, the people in line do not tell their part of the […]