Laura Kelley, my favorite ancient food expert, on the introduction of chili peppers to India. Interesting how nutritious chilis are and what a difference they made in the diets and health of impoverished people. I hadn’t considered them that way. The multi-dimensional food. My husband’s got a prime crop of habeneros in our garden and I can’t keep up. How many very hot chilis can one incorporate in the menu each week? But they are delicious. Click here for “Chili Peppers in India” on The Silk Road Gourmet
One of those bits of history I’ve always found intriguing but can’t say I know well: The Dutch East India Company. Here’s a post by Laura Libricz, who knows a lot! Click here for”The Dutch East India Company” on the Hoydens and Firebrands Blog
The Acropolis had earthquake-proof qualities designed in—so says a group of Greek civil engineers researching the Parthenon and other structures. They primarily point to the segmented columns as evidence. Hmmm, there are lots of other reasons for building the columns in sections. Click here for The Greek Reporter “Acropolis of Athens Built to Withstand Earthquakes Engineers Say”
I find this description by Simon Wood of how he created his latest villain fascinating. Not a writer to make the straightforward psycho, that’s for sure. The inner working of a writer’s mind is an interesting place to go… Click here for “Making of a Monster Guest Post by Simon Wood” on Janet Rudolph’s Mystery Fanfare blog
Gambling and dice playing in the medieval world. Great post by Elizabeth Chadwick, who points out that some things don’t change, but you’ll find a lot of the details of this activity and its social repercussions are fascinatingly different from today. Don’t lose your underpants though is still good advice. Click here for “Dallying with Dice: Medieval Pasttime” on The History Girls
An important question: How much violence should an historical author include? Romanticizing the past is a temptation. Then so is gratuitous violence, which like sex, sells. I remember a good friend reading a page of an early draft of Hand of Fire and handing it back to me. “Oh I’d never read something with that kind of violence in it.” Uh-oh. But I thought the violence was relatively tame and I couldn’t imagine telling a story set in the Trojan War without it. So on I went. Here is a thought provoking post by Nancy Bilyeau about writing historical fiction set in the Tudor world and the extent to which violence and torture must or must not enter in. Click here for “Tudor England and Tortured Writer” by Nancy Bilyeau on Judith Arnopp’s Blog
The best ever anywhere in the universe cartoon–about Hyperbole. Ha! Gotcha (It is funny) Click here for cartoon on Janet Rudolph’s Mystery Fanfare blog