Christian Cameron, the Canadian fiction writer and historical re-enactor of ‘experimental archaeology’ tells Roger Williams what inspired him to write books set in the ancient world after a career as an intelligence officer in the US Navy
Canadian writer, Christian Cameron’s books include the six-volume Tyrant series, set in the time of Alexander the Great and the conflict between Greeks and Scythians; the six-book Long War series about the Persian wars; and the Chivalry series set in late-medieval England and Italy.
His latest title, The New Achilles, was published in May. The first of two books, it takes place during the 3rd-century BC conflict between the Achaean League and Sparta.
Cameron has an honors BA in Medieval History from the University of Rochester in the US and a BA in Classics from the University of Toronto, Canada. He started full-time historical fiction writing in 2002 after leaving the US Navy, where he had served as an intelligence officer.
Since then he has written several books a year, some of them shorter eBooks, some under the names of Miles Cameron and Gordon Kent.
He is a passionate re-enactor of historical events, or what he terms ‘experimental archaeology’. He was involved in re-enacting the Battle of Marathon in 2011 and 2015 and has led tours of Greece that include instruction in martial arts. He lives in Toronto with his wife and daughter.
Q: You studied Medieval History at Rochester. What attracted you to that period of history?
I was always interested in history, and when I was 17 and due to go to Rochester to study marine biology, I read Barbara W Tuchman’s A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th century. Over that summer my idea of what I wanted to do with the rest of my life was forever changed, and as soon as I got to university I switched majors.
Q: You collaborated on some books with your father, the author, and playwright Kenneth Cameron. Which books were these, and how did that collaboration work?
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John Osborne CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS, £75 HARDBACK - ISBN 978-1108834582
