Ethan Bale was a defence journalist in both Washington and London before he turned to writing historical novels, non-fiction and short stories. Despite covering modern military technology for much of his professional career, he was always passionate about times past, particularly the Renaissance and early modern Europe. Indeed for many years he donned full medieval armour to participate in fighting tournaments in the US and UK. These days, he is usually found wielding a pen and not a sword. www.ethanbale.com @EthanBaleAuthor