Clifford Beal is the author of both fiction and non-fiction history covering real-life pirates of the Atlantic; spies, plots and skulduggery in Cromwellian England; and even adventures in an imaginary renaissance-era world complete with merfolk and manticores. His first novel, Gideon’s Angel, was published by Solaris Books in 2013. Writing as Ethan Bale, he is the author of a new series set in the twilight of the Wars of the Roses and published by Canelo. The first is Hawker and the King’s Jewel (2022) and the second in the trilogy is The Lost Prince (2023).
Hailing from Providence, Rhode Island, he worked as an international journalist for 20 years and was the editor of Jane’s Defence Weekly in London before turning his attention to writing books. Over the years he has been flung about in military aircraft, fought in full medieval armour, trained in 17th-century rapier combat, fired flintlock pistols, messed about in boats, and ridden both horses and motorcycles. Today, he is more likely found wielding a pen and not a sword.