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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.

Mycenaean Kingship, Matrilineal Succession & Female Power by Laura Gill

In a guest post Laura Gill argues against the matrilineal tradition of kingship among the Mycenaeans. “In the absence of solid documentary evidence, proponents of the matrilineal tradition of kingship turn to the legends themselves to support their theory, and point to royal heiresses such as Helen of Sparta and Penelope, wife of Odysseus, as kingmakers. Let us look at the same legends, as well as further examples where Mycenaean royal women seem to hand power to men, to demonstrate that those women were the instruments rather than the wielders of political power.”

Summer Reading: A Review of The Taint of Midas by Anne Zouroudi

Crystal blue sea, hot sand, sleepy villages with garrulous old men drinking ouzo in outside cafés, badly built tourist hotels and other monstrosities of modern development, corrupt police, and ancient Greek myths that don’t seem to want to go away—Zouroudi certainly knows Greece and creates a lovingly detailed portrait as she slowly unrolls her murder mystery. In a world of frenetically-paced thrillers, Taint of Midas has the cadences of a lazy afternoon nap in a hammock—just the thing if you’re suffering from an overdose of busy life.

Sophie Littlefield and Juliet Blackwell: Two sassy, fun reads

Sophie Littlefield’s A Bad Day for Sorry is sassy, hilarious and chilling. Her “sleuth” is Stella Hardesty—how did Sophie phrase it, a self-help widow? In Secondhand Spirits, Juliet Blackwell’s sleuth has just opened a vintage clothing store in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco, and she’s a witch.

Review of What Angels Fear and When Gods Die by C.S. Harris

These mysteries are set in Regency England at the beginning of the 19th century. They are page-turners with characters you really care about and twists you’ll never predict and all the other fun of a suspenseful read. They are also crystal windows into a particular moment and place.

Review of Caleb’s Crossing by Geraldine Brooks

The Caleb of the title of Geraldine Brook’s latest novel is the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College, a feat he accomplished in 1665.Brooks cleverly narrates the novel through the eyes of a young Colonial woman, Bethia Mayfield. For Brook’s ability to allow us to live within a Puritan woman’s mind and peer into the complex issues arising from the clash of Native American and Colonial world views, Caleb’s Crossing is definitely worth reading.

For Daddy, with Love Revealing Stories on the Impact and Influence a Father has in a Daughter’s Life edited by Katheryn Greenaway

This little book would be a great Father’s Day gift. Katheryn has collected thirty-five brief stories and essays written by daughters about the impact their fathers had on their lives.

Review of Big Wheat by Richard Thompson

The Great Plains during the post World War I boom years of “big wheat” provide an unusual setting for a mystery. The charm of this book is as much in its intricate descriptions of the steam driven machinery that made the big harvests possible as in the story, although the story became increasingly compelling as I read. For a vivid portrayal of farm life at the beginning of the twentieth century and for an even more vivid picture of life on the fringes of this most iconic of American lifestyles, read Big Wheat

Photo of black figure Greek Vase

Did the Trojan War Really Happen?

The late archaeologist of the Troia Project, Manfred Korfmann, suggested that there probably was either one or several “Trojan wars.” The archaeological dig at Troy certainly supports the idea of a large, powerful city that underwent a long period of attack.

photo of gold Hittite mother goddess figurine

Hittite Mythology on the Subject of Women

“You are a woman and think like one. You know nothing at all.” So, in a Hittite myth, says a very grouchy husband to his wife when she has asked yet again about his inability to get her pregnant. Does this show that Hittite men had a decidedly low view of women?

Photo of Greek decorated vase

Hittite Women as Reflected in the Laws of Marriage, Adultery and Rape

In the Hittite law codes a woman could both initiate a divorce and keep her inheritance and half her husband’s estate if she divorced. On the other hand, the expressions used in Hittite for marriage—there is no one abstract word for “to marry”—reflect the control men exercised over women, “to take a wife” “to take as his own wife” “to make her your wife.” The laws of adultery and rape present a similarly mixed bag.