Judith Starkston has spent too much time exploring the remains of the ancient worlds of the Greeks and Hittites. Their myths and clashes inspire her fiction and open gates to magical realms. She has degrees in Classics from the University of California, Santa Cruz and Cornell. She loves myths and telling stories, and her novels imbue fantasy with the richness of ancient worlds. The first book in her Trojan Threads Series, Hand of Fire was a semi-finalist for the M.M. Bennett’s Award for Historical Fiction. Priestess of Ishana, the first in her historical fantasy Tesha series, won the San Diego State University Conference Choice Award. Judith is represented by Richard Curtis.
Recently, I’ve been especially interested in the renaissance of novels retelling Greek mythology through a feminist lens. I hope you enjoy this review of a retelling of the Demeter/Persephone myth, Hannah Lynn’s Daughters of Olympus.
The case of the pyramid peppermint–truth or plunder? As someone who depends on a lot of scholarly assertions, I found this mystery and the clever sleuthing of two eminent Egyptologists highly entertaining. I hope you will, too.
I hope you enjoy my interview with Simon Rose about his latest YA historical fantasy novel with a dangerous trip back in time to WWII. Time travel can wreak havoc on history!
I went to Skyros to locate a missing Mycenaean palace in a way that only being on site could accomplish. I hope you enjoy the adventure. I’m also sharing my busy October author event info.
I’ve been traveling on an obscure island in Greece and it’s been lovely. The internet connection didn’t permit posting, but I’ll make up for that now. Find out what I was up to on Skyros, land of mythology and gorgeous beaches!
I’m spotlighting a historical novel that will intrigue many of you, Rebel Empress. Author Faith L. Justice captures the lives of Roman women who have often been ignored–and very much shouldn’t be.
In my writing and my research I’ve been exploring the points where myth and archaeology overlap and enlighten each other. So an article about a recent archaeological excavation of a maze-like structure on Crete caught my attention. Anyone want to go looking for a minotaur? But seriously, this is quite an exciting new dig.
Historical fiction often puts women at the center and fills in the parts left out of the record. Now a classicist has written a women’s history of the ancient world that does much the same thing only in the realm of nonfiction. Check out “The Missing Thread.”
The August 2024 Historical Novels Review is out, and I am delighted with the review of my latest, Flights of Treason. Take a peek.
Here’s my review of Luanne Smith’s latest offering, The Wolf’s Eye, in her historical fantasy series set in WWI with witches turning soldiers into various kinds of monstrous weapons. It’s an engaging series that softens its horror with themes of friendship and found family. I hope you enjoy my review.
