My thanks to Wilson for having me on his brilliant Stirling Community Radio show this morning. We had fun talking about rabbit holes in #historicalfiction research, Avarice of Empire, my WIP novella set in #Stirling, and the importance of supporting independent local bookshops.
Avarice of Empire was published a year ago today!
#historicalfiction #booksky
It’s nearly 20 years since I last had the privilege of calling Stirling home, and I’m thrilled that from a week today I’ll be able to again!
Emma and I are looking forward to new friendships and professional connections, and to contributing to the local and wider Scottish creative community.
2026 fireworks
2025 was the year of my debut novel, my youngest son graduated as a zoologist, I completed a Masters in History, and my incredible partner gained her PhD. Now it’s time to look forward to new challenges and adventures in 2026. Happy New Year! 🎉
That’s a really interesting distinction. Thanks for expanding your reply. I’m learning lots.
This came out of a recent conversation with a friend who works as a clinical psychologist and happens to be aphantasic. Visual metaphors are unhelpful for them, but it’s interesting to hear that’s not the case for you.
Thanks for sharing your perspective on this. It really helps to get a better sense of how varied the experience of aphantasia seems to be. Replying to your metaphor point below.
Do you have a visual imagination? For people who aren’t able to voluntarily create mental images — apparently a condition called #aphantasia — visual descriptions and metaphors have little or no utility. I’m fascinated by the implications the phenomenon has for writers and storytellers.
Don’t forget to watch this much needed and long overdue series on the British Empire. Remarkably, it’s not based on the opinions of a travelling ‘personality’, but on what historians who’ve actually researched it say!
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
Grand Harbour, Valletta, Malta in 1890. AI-colourised photo.
#Malta features a couple of times in Avarice of Empire, most importantly in chapters 31 & 32 after the HMS Serapis arrives at #Valletta in March 1873.
This AI-colourised photograph from 1890 gives an impression of how the Grand Harbour would have looked.
#historicalfiction #booksky
Thrilled to find Avarice of Empire gracing the fiction section beside Mark Twain at Waterstones in Taunton!
#historicalfiction #booksky #histfic
Lavelle Road, Bengaluru, India
Lavelle Road in #Bengaluru is named after Micky Lavelle - the soldier turned #Kolar gold miner from County Mayo - who makes his first appearance in Avarice of Empire in chapter seven when Charles Agnew and Morgan Farrell attend his garden party with Dr John Orr.
#historicalfiction #history
Smith & Corona typewriter
I’m enjoying immersing myself in the writing of my second book, and very glad I don’t have to type it on one of these. An #historicalfiction novella this time, “Where The River Meanders” is set in and around #Stirling, Scotland, during the early twentieth century.
AI-generated image of a birthday cake with the words happy birthday Charles Agnew.
AI-rendering of a Harry Payne painting of the 16th Lancers in review order.
Charles Agnew was #bornonthisday 189 years ago, 24th September 1836, in County #Antrim. Son of James and Catherine Agnew, and brother to William and Harriet. The family home until 1865 was Cairncastle Lodge on the #Carnfunnock Estate (now Carnfunnock Country Park) near #Larne. #history
AI-rendering of “La Tribune des Souverains” by Edouard Riou and Eugène Cicéri, illustrating the opening ceremony of the Suez Canal at Port Said in November 1869.
Chapter eighteen of Avarice of Empire recounts the opening of the Suez Canal in November 1869 from the perspective of George West, the British Vice Consul in Suez, and how a ship of the British Navy jumped the queue to be the first vessel through the new waterway.
#historicalfiction #history
Heartfelt thanks to all the Avarice of Empire readers who’ve given the book 5-star reviews…
#historicalfiction #histfic #booksky
HMS Serapis (AI generated image)
HMS Serapis (AI generated image)
Launched in 1866, HMS Serapis was one of five Euphrates-class troopships used primarily to transport British troops and their families to and from India. In 1873 she played a prominent role in Charles Agnew’s story, as depicted in chapters 28-30 of Avarice of Empire.
#history #historicalfiction
Madras from the Madras Roads (AI generated based on 1754 painting)
Madras from the Madras Roads (AI generated based on 1754 painting)
Masula boats landing at Madras (AI generated based on 1885 photo)
Masula boats landing at Madras (AI generated based on 1885 photo)
Charles Agnew and the 16th Lancers reached Madras on the Golden Fleece 160 years ago this month and taken ashore by masula boats. These generated images give an impression of the scene that greeted them. Read the full story of the voyage in Avarice of Empire.
#history #historicalfiction
Lady Florence Caroline Dixie
The character of photographer Sophia Munro in Avarice of Empire was inspired, in part, by Lady Florence Caroline Dixie who was a Scottish feminist, writer, traveller and war correspondent. Read more about her here: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Fl...
#history #feminism #nineteenthcentury
Map showing key story locations and steamship voyage routes that feature in Avarice of Empire by C.Q. Turnstone.
From Ireland to India, and Newfoundland to Egypt and Malta, Avarice of Empire tells the story of many adventurous journeys, some overland by train or on horseback, others across oceans by steamship. Follow them in the paperback or Kindle edition: www.amazon.co.uk/Avarice-Empi... #historicalfiction
Thank you!
1870 sketch map of telegraph routes to India by Alfred Brasher
After months of radio silence, last Friday I submitted my MA #History about 19C telegraphy and Malta’s role in British imperial comms. Like earlier essays, it was inspired by themes explored in ‘Avarice of Empire’.
A new creative writing project is already sparking my imagination.
If you've read Avarice of Empire you'll remember an officer known as 'Carrin' Churchward. This carte de visite portrait was likely taken in Dover shortly before his leaving party at Kearnsey Abbey on 16th August 1865. #cartedevisite #photography #history #historicalfiction #booksky #histbookchat
Very pleased to see the connection between Strathallan Castle, the Drummond family, and Charles Agnew’s story being highlighted by The Scotsman.
#strathallancastle #history #scottishhistory #histbookchat #booksky
Thanks Gareth, much appreciated!
Many thanks to Anne and everyone in the Historical Novel Society’s author interviews team for doing this Q&A with me.
#historicalfiction #histfic #hfchitchat #histbookchat #historicalnovelsociety #authorinterview #booksky
#DoTheWriteThing
#DoTheWriteThing and sign the @societyofauthors.bsky.social petition to protect authors’ livelihoods from the unlicensed use of their work in AI training: www.change.org/p/protect-au...
Super little feature in the Belfast Newsletter about Charles Agnew’s family home on the estate that is now Carnfunnock Country Park near Larne.
#historicalfiction #carnfunnock #larne #history #booksky
In chapter 33 of Avarice of Empire, Alec Innes has an important task to perform in Canterbury and walks into town from the cavalry barracks.
#historicalfiction #histfic #hfchitchat #histbookchat #booksky #canterbury
