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.
Great weekend at Tucson Festival of Books. Troy gets a new archaeological team, Achilles gets a satirical poke, Nancy Bilyeau id’s 8 Best Historicals, Alex the Great’s successor gets dug up and we’re Celebrating Women in an excellent series.
Next AZ HNS meeting April 5: Ann Chamberlin on the History of Sex. Weekly Web favorites include a remarkable queen via Kim Rendfeld, a storied Abbey via Nancy Bilyeau, Big Foot put to use inspiring the youth of America via Karen Randau and some new thinking about Petra.
Tucson Festival of Books, Book lovers heaven coming March 15-16! Around the web: getting at the truth with HF, Viking fiction with Richard Lee, Stephanie Dray on Cleopatra Selene’s identify crisis, ancient color blindness, & a podcast re Jessica Brockmole’s epistolary novel.
What I’m working on and how: My Writing Process, a Blog Hop
Downton Abbey, ancient helmets, the Sixities as HF, microbes in Pompeii, Speller’s WWI novel, ancient climate change & the Argo sails again.
My fav’s fr the web this week: aliens at Pyramids, what a copyeditor does & an app for Hemingway’s style, Kim Rendfeld’s writing process, & my nominee for best-written review, Ron Charles on A Burnable Book.
Next AZ HNS meeting April 5, history of sex, Ann Chamberlin. Links to archaeological finds fr 9000 yr old linen to a bronze Apollo. Historical preservation of sacred buildings. Tips on historical fiction fr Stephanie Dray, character motivation by me, cover art, and lively medieval games by Tinney Heath.
What makes a young woman pick up a sword against a powerful Greek Warrior? My guest post on Linda Collison’s blog “Sea of Words” about character motivation in Hand of Fire.
Reminder: Feb 8th AZ HNS meeting 1-4 with Shona Patel, Teatime for the Firefly. Venetia Lewis guest posting today about Cochise, a band of Apaches and a small sign that tickled her imagination.
New Sappho poems discovered and two good historical fiction reads by JF Ridgely and Cynthia Neale.
