After the past few months of radio silence while I was immersed in academic research and writing, last Friday I submitted the dissertation that completes my MA History studies. It was on the topic of international telegraphy in the nineteenth century and Malta’s role as a nexus of British imperial communication, and hopefully makes a useful contribution to the existing historiography. Like the shorter research projects that preceded it, about carte de visite photography and systemic corruption in the ‘lunactic asylums’ of Madras and Bengal, it was inspired by themes explored in Avarice of Empire.

With the degree behind me, I’m looking forward to seeing Avarice of Empire being enjoyed and reviewed by more readers, and I’ve begun work on a new creative writing project that’s really sparking my imagination. It’ll be historical fiction again, of course, but unrelated to the first book and a complete contrast in style and length.