Rock, Paper, Swords! - the Historical Action and Adventure Podcast

That's right! We interview one of THE best loved historical fiction authors of the past twenty years today - Simon Scarrow! Join us as we chat about his writing, his upcoming musical (yep, you read that right), Romans, and loads more. First ever image on the internet - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Horribles_Cernettes

Just a very short message to wish our listeners all the best for the coming year. Thank you ALL for joining us in 2022, hope to see you again in 2023!  www.matthewharffy.com www.stevenamckay.com

Christmas a humbug?! Join the boys as they look at all sorts of winter traditions, ancient and modern, from Saturnalia shenanigans to Yule logs to "old" movies. If you like Christmas stories, check out Steven's brand new novelette, The Pedlar's Promise ,  and Matthew has a new novel out too, Forest of Foes! Burning a Yule log - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sw3unDRU6Eg&ab_channel=Countr...

Matthew and Steven are chatting this week with Jean Gill. The interview covered a lot of really interesting subjects so we're sure you'll enjoy the episode! Look out for our Christmas special next, and then we'll have our first interview with a musician early in 2023, with lots more fantastic guests lined up for the coming year! LINKS to things mentioned in the chat: Here is the jet ski guy on You...

Since last week's interview with Carol McGrath had some audio issues that forced us to shorten it somewhat we thought we'd put out this little bonus episode as a bit of fun - a freebie if you will! We read out some funny or just odd reviews of our own books. This was something Steven suggested because he thought it would be a right laugh but, in fact, as we started putting together the material fo...

Today we are chatting with bestselling author Carol McGrath. She's written books like The Handfasted Wife and Sex and Sexuality in Tudor England. We had a good long discussion with Carol but there were some audio issues which forced us to cut down the episode. Hopefully you still enjoy the interview! To make up for the slightly shorter episode, we'll be dropping an extra BONUS episode next week in...

The boys discuss the history of Hallowe'en! Includes some chat on Steven's spooky novella Knight of the Cross , and Matthew's short tale, Kin of Cain . Sleep paralysis, black eyed kids, folklore, Beowulf, pumpkin and turnip carving, and loads more... Turn out the lights and lock the doors for this fun look at everyone's favourite spooky night of the year!

Farming, historical fiction, and, of course, music are all discussed in this exciting new episode. Check it out and don't forget to SUBSCRIBE and give us a 5 star rating if you're enjoying what we're doing! Links to websites/software mentioned: Byzantium 1200: http://www.byzantium1200.com/ The Stanford Geospatial Network Model of The Roman World: https://orbis.stanford.edu/ Aeon Timeline: https://...

Matthew and Steven discuss the music they listen to while writing and just enjoy in general. Rock, classical, black metal, it's all over the place here! Join us to find out how music affects our writing process...  Even includes a song Matthew recorded a few years ago with a band - it's awesome, you need to hear it! The band can be found here: https://purplefishband1.weebly.com/  The tra...

Please support us on Patreon from as little as £1 per month and get access to bonus episodes and more great perks! patreon.com/RockPaperSwordsPodcast Another BONUS EPISODE this week, as Matthew and Steven got to chat with their literary hero, Bernard Cornwell. We found out some big news about his forthcoming book, Sharpe's Command, talked about his love of acting, The Last Kingdom series, the...

Matthew and Steven chat with Irish author Tim Hodkinson. Includes a rather amusing anecdote about one of the extras in Game of Thrones! Find out more about Tim's books - Vikings, Templars and more - here: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/h/tim-hodkinson/ Main theme music for the intro and outro was written, recorded and copyrighted by Steven A. McKay and Matthew Harffy. Background music: Langhus B...

Matthew and Steven have spent the morning watching the first two episodes of Amazon's new show based on Tolkien's Lord of the Rings - RINGS OF POWER. In this special bonus episode they talk about their first impressions of this highly anticipated (and vilified by people who've never even seen it) new show. Is the casting any good? What about the music? How does it look? Can it compare to the Peter...

Matthew and Steven take a look back at Peter Jackson's trilogy of Lord of the Rings films. Find out what they love about the movies and what they don't like quite as much. Other non-Tolkien penned books mentioned in this episode: The Sword of Shannara - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15575.The_Sword_of_Shannara Journeys of Frodo - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/938210.Journeys_of_Frodo

Author Robyn Young (who also writes modern thrillers as Erin Young) joins Matthew and Steven to discuss writing, pen-names, research and much more, including the forthcoming TV show based on her novel The Fields .  Robyn's website - https://robynyoung.com/

Matthew and Steven discuss a handful of action and adventure books (including some of their own!) and how their very first lines/paragraphs draw the reader in. Bernard Cornwell's The Lords of the North   David Gemmell's The Swords of Night and Day Steven A. McKay's Lucia and Rise of the Wolf Matthew Harffy's The Serpent Sword and The Wolf of Wessex Theme music, "Rock, Paper, Swords" © Steven...

In which we chat about anachronisms in historical fiction (food related ones) and general points of interest in the historical culinary field. And then we discuss weapons, including spears, swords, and seaxs. And Steven exclusively reveals the title of his next Warrior Druid of Britain novel! To join in with our giveaway, share our Rock, Paper, Swords! pages on social media and let us know yo...

Our first episode! Find out who we are and what our plans are for this new podcast. As the title suggests, we'll be looking at action and adventure from the perspective of historical fiction authors, but we'll also be diving into more general writing questions and, of course, there'll be a little talk about rock music and how it helps us be creative. Please SUBSCRIBE, and join Matthew Harffy and S...

A very short introduction to Rock, Paper, Swords! Join us on July 1st 2022 for our first full episode.