The next Robert Louis Stevenson... never, but hold on a sec.....

I was described by one of my peers as "The next Robert Louis Stevenson", and I dismissed the whole idea as "bunkum"! R.L.S. was one of a kind, and even to be compared to him was an honour.

BUT.... as I am writing Jamie 2, I am getting strange coincidences happening....... (Let me set the scene...)

I like to delve into history for the smallest of details... E.G.; When Jamie, (back in 1707), spends the night at an inn, I like it to have actually BEEN there in 1707; just my wee quirk.

But the inn I decided apon was the "Seven Stars" in Bristol (actually there in 1707) and the owner at the time was a JOHN HAWKINS! ..... (Jack Hawkins was the main character in RLS's Treasure Island)

So I write on, and one of the REAL jacobites in 1707/8 is a "Squire Trewlawney", from Redruth, in Cornwall..... (Damn, Squire Trewlawney is a RLS character, and so is seaman "Redruth".)

I continue; one of the real jacobites in 1707/8 is an Irishman called "Colonel Hooke"..... (Too close to J.M. Barrie's "Captain Hook" for comfort.)

And if (In an effort to be historically correct) I kept all this actually "IN" my Jamie 2, I'd be slagged off for stealing from RLS etc.

Maybe I should just be like some historical novellists; make everything up, and not give a crap about actual history!

(And we all know those movies, don't we.......)

(Pic, BTW, is Robert Newton, Long John Silver in Disney's Treasure Island in 1950)