April 25, 2020

"I highly recommend this book and the entire series to any fantasy and adventure lover." - Lisa

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The first recorded sea battle took place in 1210 BC when the King of the Hittites, Suppiluliuma II, defeated a fleet from Cyprus. There were three battles in total, ranging from 1275 BCE to 1205, and they are commonly referred to as the Battles of Alashiya, named for the defeated navy. Better records exist of the Battle of the Delta in 1175 BCE where the Egyptians defeated an attempted sea invasion somewhere on the eastern Nile delta. The details of this battle were recorded on the wall of the temple of Ramesses III. The enemy was referred to as the Sea Peoples, and they attempted to defeat the Egyptians both on land and at sea.

The main tactic in ancient battles was to use archers against the enemy ships, then possibly board the enemy vessel where hand to hand combat would ensue. This tactic remained in place until the advent of the ram, which was an elongation of the bow that would be driven into an enemy vessel in an effort to puncture it. The resulting damage could sink a vessel, but many modern historians think it was more to immobilize the ship since the bow sat very close to the surface of the water and not below it. The first recorded use of this tactic was in 535 BCE but may have been used earlier.

Rams, which required being mounted on rowed ships to be used properly, fell out of favour as sailing ships gained dominance, but they were still being used as late as 1571, at the Battle of Lepanto, and there was even an attempt to reintroduce the concept as steamships came into use in the mid-1800's.

I have always been a history buff, but I will admit that I have been learning more recently in preparation for an upcoming sea battle that may or may not be part of my latest book!

I am returning to my by-weekly Facebook Live sessions starting Monday, April 27th at my usual time of 5:30 pm EST, and I would love to have some questions beforehand. Please take a moment and shoot me an email with your questions.

Paul@pauljbennettauthor.com or simply reply to this newsletter.

With the plethora of streaming services available these days, it’s often difficult to figure out what to watch. New series show up all the time on services like Netflix or Amazon Prime, but there are also older shows that deserve attention.  One of the services we like is called Acorn TV, and it features a number of British shows (as well as Australian) that are otherwise unavailable elsewhere. One such show we discovered is called Pie in the Sky.

This show, which aired from 1994 to 1997, stars British actor Richard Griffiths as Detective Inspector Crabbe. What makes the show even more interesting is the fact that he runs a restaurant called ‘Pie in the Sky’. Griffiths is perhaps best known to North American audiences as Vernon Dursley in the Harry Potter movies, but here he plays a much different sort of character. One of the nice things about this show is that it doesn’t always involve murder, though that is its mainstay.

If you decide to give it a try, make sure you watch at least two episodes as the first struggles a bit to set things up. However, once the restaurant is up and running, it adds a whole new dimension to things. Overall I would highly recommend this.

As I write this, I am moving into the final quarter of Temple Knight. I hit 95,000 words this week, but more importantly, the threads of the story are all starting to come together. This is a long work, perhaps even longer than Heart of the Crown, but I think the story works well. The new characters are proving fun to write, and the overall plot of the series, which concerns the struggles with the Halvarian Empire, is developing nicely.

I expect the first draft will be finished in two weeks, give or take a day or two, but I already know there are changes to be made to the first few chapters. This is mostly a result of the characters themselves, as they evolved during the tale, resulting in more background details that will let me flesh them out nicely. Now, I shall have to spend more time distinguishing them from each other in the beginning, if only to prevent readers from becoming confused over who’s who.

I’ve also had to do some research on ancient naval battles, as evidenced by my article this week on sea battles.

Until next time, Happy reading!

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