From My Fantasy Writing Desk:
For the binge reader in all of us, this week I’m bringing you news of a giant book giveaway (and book related goodies), a book fair, and my own very temporary sale on Hand of Fire.
Dark Stars, Bright Realms SciFi & Fantasy Giveaway
Fantasy and SciFi lovers, I’ve banded together with a terrific group of authors to provide just the thing to brighten up any dreary, earthbound winter’s day. Enter for your chance to win a Kindle Fire, gift cards, or ebook prize packs where winners get to choose the books THEY want to win from Amazon’s vast universe. Here’s the direct link to the Rafflecopter Giveaway.
And the Book Fair
Plus, don’t miss our book fair–excellent books on deep discounts–with its own giveaway and binge-worthy, fantasy, fantasy romance, SciFi, SciFi
romance, and urban fantasy books. All books are priced $2.99 or less, some FREE!
Hand of Fire is on a CountDown Deal
I’ve launched a spur of the moment special on Hand of Fire, using Amazon’s CountDown Deal. So click through Saturday Jan 26 to buy Hand of Fire for only $0.99. Sunday Jan 27 for $1.99. Monday Jan 28 for $2.99 and so forth. The price rises every day until it’s back up to its usual $4.99, so click through now.
Archaeology & History Posts I enjoyed:
Evocative Stele Stones of the Deer People
My historical fantasy novels feature a nomadic people as one of the central antagonists. They fight to regain their homelands from the centralized empire that my main characters lead. I build sympathy for both sides of this conflict. Neither has an unambiguous moral justification for their violence. They both desire valid goals.
I based my fictional Paskans, the nomadic people in question, on a historic group. The nature of nomads is that they don’t leave a lot of evidence behind from as long ago as 1270 BCE. I’m left using comparative evidence from other more modern nomadic people. So, I found fascinating this article about long ago (1200 to 800 BCE) nomads in Mongolia, the Deer People.
They have been so named for the evocative depictions of stylized deer on stele stones placed over vast acres of land as part of funerary complexes. Hundreds of stone grave mounds surround each “deer stone.” These mysterious people buried a horse head beneath each mound.
All of this feels so appropriate for nomads, although my nomads are less steppe people and more mountain-based. Of these gorgeous, mysterious stones scattered over the steppes, the archaeologist reported, “The representation of deer follows the same graphic codes from one site to another: elongated muzzle, disproportionate antlers, bodies stretched toward the sky. Deer were probably tasked with leading the souls of the dead toward the afterlife.” This stirs something deep inside of me. Moving isn’t it? Click here for “The Mysterious Steles Of Mongolia”
Ancient Inscribed Odyssey lines
Archaeology Magazine features among its top ten discoveries of 2019 an inscribed brick found at Olympia, Greece. The Greeks held the ancient Olympic games at this site. The archaeologists’ supposition about this brick: Some resident fancied himself a latter-day Odysseus, so he commissioned lines from the Odyssey to be offered up to the gods. An artisan carved into the brick the first 13 lines of Book 14 of the Odyssey. In those lines, Odysseus has returned to Ithaca and reunites with his trusty swineherd, Eumaeus. The brick’s words are likely the oldest Homeric inscription found in Greece. The style of lettering indicates a date sometime before the 3rd century CE. I like the reverence toward Homer this inscription implies and I’ll concur with its placement among the best of 2019. Click here for Archaeology Magazine “Epic Find, Olympia Greece”