Author Archives: 1anniepearson

Let’s start with this blog post (and the discussion thread that follows the post): But, but, but — WHY does magic have to make sense?

Time in Medieval Historicals: Ecclesiastical and Lunar Calendars The first two books of the Accidental Heretics series take place in 1210. This creates a host of challenges for addressing time and date tracking issues. This post considers calendar issues and resources for writing historical fiction. Adoption of the Gregorian calendar didn’t begin until 1582 and wasn’t universal until the first… Read more »

Textual vs Wikipedia Research The links here for quick info frequently go to Wikipedia, for simplicity and to ensure stable links long-term. However, research for Accidental Heretics relied on a host of academic and popular history texts. First, to have the most fun and learn a lot quickly, see Hugh Nicklin’s The Lauragais Story from the South of France. Second, to rant,… Read more »

Pèire at Work Readers must be able to form their own pictures of characters. However, Peire Leteric resembles this 90-year-old Catalan gentleman we met in Tortella, who showed us how to polish a wooden spoon with a bone tool. He was gut-shot in the civil war, but went on to a joyous life after Franco. What Chrètian Sang Chrètian is a… Read more »

Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters! What exactly did a 13thC roadside inn look like in the midst of the Corbières hills? To describe things previously unknown to me, I need a good image. Although the Internets are full of castles of various ages, ordinary building are harder to locate. And searching on anything “13th century” related to the Languedoc usually… Read more »

Organian Citadel or Heretics’ Shelter? I showed a good friend the Bone-mend and Salt cover work by Lisa Tilton, and he immediately claimed it was the Organian Citadel from the Star Trek “Errand of Mercy” episode: “Yep:  Season 1 – Episode 27 aired March 27, 1967. This is the one where Kirk et al. try to convince the Organians to… Read more »