Clifford Beal

Clifford Beal was a defence journalist in both Washington and London before he turned to penning historical novels, non-fiction, and short stories. Despite writing about modern military technology for much of his 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. He has previously written high fantasy and horror under his own name but now writes historical fiction as Ethan Bale. His first published book, Quelch’s Gold (2007), is the true story of an 18th century Anglo-American privateer tried for piracy in 1704, a case that made legal history on both sides of the Atlantic.

Clifford originally hails from Providence, Rhode Island and resides in East Sussex, England. Over the years he has been flung about in military aircraft, trained in 17th century rapier, fired flintlock pistols, messed about in boats, and ridden both horses and motorcycles. These days he is usually found wielding a pen and not a sword.