One of the pluses of this millennium is the ease of doing research on-line.  When I taught literature, I was sceptical about my students using Wikipedia, but I have made my peace with it and couldn’t live without it now. Other wikis have emerged as finding-tools for information that used to reside in reference books and encylopedias. A few years ago, I decided to give away my own set of dusty encyclopedias. Libraries didn’t want it, nor did second-hand bookshops. I was told to put them into my yellow recycling bag.

However, I still use the Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (1971) that was invaluable in checking the dates of words when I wrote my novels. Yes, the one with the miniature print and the magnifying glass! I was fastidious in writing Conceit to make sure the word actually existed in the 17th century. It was a little harder with Muse, although I did try.

Incidentally, he word “wiki” does not appear in the 1971 OED. For that, you have to go to the on-line OED, which tells us that the noun “wiki” was first used in 1995 in PC Week in the phrase “wiki-paging utility”. The next use of it was in 2000, so it really did ring in the millennium.

Muse, and the Compact OED, and the magnifying glass

A few days ago, I learned that my novel Muse has been included in Ezvid Wiki in the intriguing category of “Ambitious Novels That Offer Original Perspectives On History”. I love the idea that my work offers an original insight on a period of history, in this case the 14th-century, when the popes resided in Avignon, not Rome. If you are interested, you can see the published wiki here: https://wiki.ezvid.com/m/11-ambitious-novels-that-offer-original-perspectives-on-history-XXsKl2K6vJHYg