Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Inspiration!

I have been reading through books like crazy over the last month: Cussler's The Thief; Weber's A Rising Thunder (latest in the Honor Harrington series); Cornwell's Death of Kings; Wilcox's The War of the Dragon Lady; and Mallinson's On His Majesties Service.  I was like a kid in the candy store last month, then I ran out.  A couple of graphic novels Warlord of Mars and the first in the Walking Dead series.
While drifting through the local(ish) Barnes and Noble bookstore last week I came across Conn Iggulden's series Emperor: a four set series about Julius Caesar.  I had seen these listed on the Amazon UK site but was not very interested to pay the extra postage, so when I saw them here I bought all four and started reading.
This series is extremely well written and while not totally historical it almost makes me want to start, OH NO!, a new period.  But I think I'll resist, although I do have some 28mm Romans for my lost worlds adventures.  It has a lot of political maneuvering both public and in private that I am sure still goes on today just like then.  Then there are the battle scenes - very well written. Take the best of Sharpe, Hornblower, other Cornwell novels and you have Iggulden.  Highly Recommended.
A really great history entitled Vanished Kingdoms: The rise and fall of States and Nations by Norman Davies, Viking, 2011.  This is almost a must have for those interested in imagi-nations of almost any period, it's all european covering 15 states/nations over 1500 years.
Happy Reading