I’m in the midst of a busy weekend at a local Greek Festival. The St. Haralambos Church asked me to be their featured author, so I’m chatting about ancient Greek history, archaeology and Hand of Fire several times during the weekend. Lots of fun. The feel of this festival is very reminiscent of Sunday afternoons on Cyprus when extended families fill the cafes and public spaces, eat and relax together. This is a community that really feels “community”!
Here are my favorite posts around the web recently.
The AZ HNS meeting about marketing last Saturday was very informative and we all enjoyed each other’s company. I’ve been out of town since that day and just wasn’t attending to anything online, so here’s my shout out to all who came. And here’s the link to Donis’ post and recipe about War Cake. Donis tried out her latest WWI recipe on the well-warned members of the Arizona Historical Novel Society and we gave it the thumbs up. Despite its bizarre ingredients this is a tasty, maybe even sassy cake. Nothing like some wartime rationing to bring out the creative in a cook. Some killer good chili and other great food sustained us through the afternoon. Click here for the Donis Casey’s “War Cake” on The Poisoned Pen Press Blog.
“Fictionally Speaking, Women Win” This article in January Magazine explores why men make up only 20% of the fiction reading public. Some say women are wired for fiction by their ability to empathize with others, put themselves inside a character. This writer suggests that’s ridiculous and that fiction that creates a different world is more appealing to men and that the drop in male readers is accounted for by the tendency today for fiction to recreate the same world we live in and portray characters we can “relate” to. If true, that would explain why my book, which lifts the reader into another world and time, is so popular with men—something I did not expect from a story focused on a strong woman protagonist. What do you think? Why are men dropping like flies from the ranks of fiction readers? Click here for January Magazine article “Fictionally Speaking Women Win”
Oops. Things you should not do in a hurry: Repair Tutankhamun’s Golden Burial Mask. Apparently among other things that have gone haywire in Egypt, the care and conservation of national treasures continues to be bungled. Someone knocked King Tut’s beard off and then to make matters worse instead of leaving it to conservators to repair the damage, someone used epoxy to stick it back on—very visible and very damaging. Yikes. Such an avoidable problem amidst so many intractable ones. Click here for Archaeology News Network “Tutankahmun’s Burial Mask Irreversibly Damaged”
A second novel by Harper Lee?! A manuscript written before To Kill a Mockingbird, with an adult Scout, will be published in 2015. Doubts swirl as to whether this represents Lee’s wishes or the infirm elderly recluse has been tricked into this. An interesting discussion of this upcoming book and the surrounding issues. Click here for January Magazine “Harper Lee’s Controversial Second Novel”
How ancient people determined the equinox and other astronomical observations is intriguing. I did not realize that Texas had pictographs of great interest to this topic—apparently they contain a more accurate measure of the winter solstice than Stonehenge. Click here for Archaeology News Network “Ancient Texas Pictograph Mystery Solved”
What could be better? Sharon Kay Penman interviewing Priscilla Royal about Satan’s Lullaby. Sharon’s deep understanding of writing medieval fiction and what to ask, along with Priscilla’s intelligence and humor in the answers make this a gem. I can’t wait to read Satan’s Lullaby, and if you live in AZ, Priscilla will be speaking to the AZ Historical Novel Society on Feb 21, so come along and listen! Check my website for details. Click here for Sharon Kay Penman Blog Interview with Priscilla Royal