The Pomegranate Gate, Book Review
Here’s my review of The Pomegranate Gate, an Inquisition-era novel inspired by Jewish folklore and mysticism. I loved this one!
Home » Archives for Judith Starkston »
Judith Starkston
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.
Three Favorite Reads of the Year
I created a list of three favorite reads of the year for the Shepherd’s website–which I hope you’ll enjoy. And that got me thinking about what books are or are not anything like my own fiction.
One Puzzling Afternoon, Book Review
I hope you enjoy my review of One Puzzling Afternoon, a dual timeline (1951/2018), character-driven mystery with a narrator suffering from age-related memory loss and the corroding effect of dangerous secrets kept over a lifetime.
Earlybird Book Sale on Fantasy
I’m participating in a pre-Thanksgiving book sale. You’ll find lots of fantasy, including Hand of Fire, my Trojan War novel and Priestess of Ishana, about the Hittite queen history forgot. (Both for less than a dollar)
Women of Greek Mythology
I’ve been thinking about the women of Greek mythology lately. This probably explains why I enjoyed this CBC radio interview with Natalie Haynes about her nonfiction book Pandora’s Jar: Women in the Greek Myths. I suspect you might enjoy it also.
Restoring the Classics from Carbonized Scrolls
A computer scientist believes he can reveal the entire library of Julius Caesar’s father-in-law from scrolls carbonized by Vesuvius. It’s a bit complicated!
Assyrian Women: Letters and Weaving
I hope you’ll be Intrigued, as I was, by these letters of women from 1860 BCE. These women were integral to the international textile trade between Assyria and Anatolia. Or perhaps you’re interested in watching an experimental archaeologist reconstruct what these weaving women actually did with wool.
Author Tales, The Joy of Reading Aloud
My reading at the Avid Reader was great fun. Since the excerpt I crafted for this event is spookily appropriate for the Halloween season, I’m sharing it with you. Amazing what happened when I looked at the first chapter not as the opening for the whole book, but as a place from which to pluck a brief, spellbinding tale for an audience. I hope you enjoy it.
Northern California Book Events
It’s great fun to be participating at author events around the Northern California area, including the Avid Reader Bookstore Oct 17, 6-8pm. For the details about these book events, you may read my post.
Heir of Uncertain Magic, Book Review
A setting in Victorian Boston and a nearby island, an endearing romance, and an intriguing magical system. I thoroughly enjoyed Charlie Holmberg’s Heir of Uncertain Magic. If that sounds fun to you also, here’s my review.