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.
One of these not-so-far-off days, I’ll write the follow up book to Hand of Fire, my novel set in the Trojan War with Briseis as the main character. She might go to the island of Cyprus, perhaps even to the Bronze Age city that is now the archaeological site called Hala Sultan Tekke
I wrote my origin story for Donis Casey’s regular series “Let Me Tell You My Story.” I don’t have the usual writer’s tale.
This week’s post takes a step into the macabre with a medieval cure made of ground-up mummy. And that wasn’t the end of the mummy abuse.
On my blog, an interview with Simon Rose about Royal Blood, 2nd bk in his Stone of the Seer series, historical fantasy for young adults.
What comes to mind when you think of ancient Egyptian pyramid builders? Not a life full of high status responsibilities and good food. And yet, the papyrus logbooks indicate these surprising aspects. Read on.
Nicole Glover’s The Undertakers, in her Black speculative fiction Murder and Magic series, features husband and wife magical practitioners who operate as both undertakers and detectives in post-Civil War Philadelphia. My review of this entertaining mix of historical and magical mystery.
The Writer’s Connection at Desert Foothills Library is hosting me to teach a dialogue workshop (on Zoom) July 1, 1-3 pm Arizona time. It’s free and open to everyone. Writing dialogue well has never come easily to me, but there are good techniques that anyone can learn.
It turns out the “invention” of money in the ancient Near East came about during a time of crisis and shrinking economy. It starts with handy “portable wealth.”
Sometimes long-running series like C.S. Harris’s Sebastian St. Cyr Mysteries loose steam, but that is definitely not the case with When Blood Lies, book 17 of her series. It was named Editor’s Choice in Historical Novels Review. My review.
There have been some successful onstage versions of the Iliad lately. This one definitely caught my attention–aerial display, music, a new interpretation.
