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.
Don’t miss the Tempe Book Festival Saturday April 16. I’ll be speaking from 11-12. Posts I enjoyed this week: ostracon shopping lists show early literacy in Biblical period, Babylonian school exercise using the Pythagorean Theorem 1300 years before Pythagoras. And my travels this week (which may not qualify as interesting…)
Review of Call to Juno, the 3rd in Elisabeth Storrs series set in the ancient Etruscan and Roman world. “A book for long, delicious savoring.”
Some posts I enjoyed this week: DNA and microbes starred this week revealing decimation of early peoples of America, Hannibal’s route over the alps, the contents of ancient Greek trade. Then there were those lead curse tablets from Athens…
Some posts I enjoyed around the web this week: a critique of Kolb on Troy’s location, a collection of 4 novels of ancient times by Stephanie Dray, Libbie Hawker, Rebecca Lochlann, Cheri Lasota, Analyzing skeletons found near Athens to reveal ancient politics and websites most helpful for writers.
RESURRECTING DANAË Rethinking the Role of Perseus’s Mother: a discussion by Laura Gill of her novel about this marginalized woman from Greek mythology
Some posts I enjoyed around the web this week: 500 yr old Bible reveals Reformation secrets, Egyptian ostracon with alphabet practice, figuring out what immerses a reader and some good bks for good price: The Tapestry in paperback & 4 bk collection of historical mysteries
Posts I enjoyed from around the web this week: Roman tavern in France shows shift from Celtic culture, a cartoon of writerly humor and the mystery of what’s behind King Tut’s tomb continues with ever greater details
I hope to see you at the Tucson Festival of Books this weekend. Here are some posts I enjoyed around the web this week: Roman mosaics in Turkey, Etruscan tomb finds, deciphering Greek papyri, tel Kabri site reveals a possible winery, how to use backstory brilliantly
A delightful time at Left Coast Crime and some posts I enjoyed from around the web: chance find of Clovis people and mammoth, learning dialogue, 31 Mycenaean burials
Getting to the truth in wartime has always been difficult. Pharaoh Ramesses, after the Battle of Kadesh, portrayed his version in some interestingly distorted ways.
