Category: Uncategorized
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History’s Henchman: The Rise and Fall of Lucius Aelius Sejanus
“Sejanus was feared, loathed, despised, and loved…at times disarming and amiable, always efficient and reliable, but arrogant and cruel when they occasion demanded.” – Sejanus: Regent of Rome (John S. McHugh), p. 16 “He’s a Caesar with no mercy and a Sulla with no restraint.” – Daughter of Scorpions, Chapter 29 Okay, two weeks ago…
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Shadow of the Colossus: Susan Fenimore Cooper’s Elinor Wyllys and Other Work
“Writing may be a very pleasant pastime; but printing seems to have many disagreeable consequences attending every stage of the process” – Elinor Wyllys, author preface “‘Yes,’ replied Mrs. Bernard; ‘but it is a pity her face should be so ugly; for she has rather a pretty figure—‘“ – Elinor Wyllys, chapter 2 Whew wee,…
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Release Day for DAUGHTER OF SCORPIONS
Gods defend us, dear readers, we have (finally!) reached release day for my sixth book, and fourth God’s Wife novel, Daughter of Scorpions! I’m so excited for all of you to (re)meet my girl Zosime as she unravels another deadly plot against Rome with the help of both some familiar faces and some new allies.…
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Publication Announcement for DAUGHTER OF SCORPIONS and Ebook Sale!
Howdy folks, I know that I’ve been MIA for a couple of weeks, but I’ve been getting the last proofs and minutiae ready for the next book, and I am delighted to announce that my fourth God’s Wife novel, Daughter of Scorpions, is wrapped up and arriving at the internet storefront of your choice MAY…
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Palfrey Pony Club: Horses in the Middle Ages
It’s been a busy couple of weeks on this end since my last post between travel for the Easter holiday and at last getting cover finalization for Daughter of Scorpions completed (paperback proofs are in the mail!), and this week I’m stuck in six hours of legal continuing education to maintain my attorney’s license. What…
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She’s Just Not That Into You: Orlando Furioso and the Making of the Modern European Novel
Who will ascend to heaven, mistress mine, to fetch me back my lost wits? (Orlando furioso, XXXV.2) Before we get into Orlando, I did want to assure some of you that I didn’t forget about giving updates about the release of my next novel, Daughter of Scorpions. I would personally love to have a concrete…
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Knowing It When You See It: Fanny Hill, Her Literary Sisters and Her Legacy
“…our virtues and our vices depend too much on our circum-stances…” (Fanny Hill, p. 77) I recently read John Cleland’s infamous novel Fanny Hill: or, the Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure (1748/9), and while not really a piece of high literature, it got me thinking about a whole host of other banned/censored books and…
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Defining Art: Museum Curation and the Work of Gertrude Abercrombie
I haven’t done a museum entry in a while, and the Carnegie Museum of Art has some new exhibitions that caught my attention last week, so I thought we’d take a look at some of what’s on offer for the spring quarter. CMOA’s Forum Gallery is a single-room exhibition space that rotates on a roughly…
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American Authors in the First Millennium: Zora Neale Hurston’s The Life of Herod the Great and Thornton Wilder’s The Ides of March
While it’s hard to ever call historical fiction set in the Roman period passé, I do sometimes feel like I’m out here on an island, as it seems most of the current genre zeitgeist is for almost entirely 20th century historical fiction, with a few forays into midcentury Victorian. But as I’m pretty much never…
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Imitation to Independence: Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay and the Legacy of Rajmohan’s Wife
“The earlier Bankim was only a poet and stylist, the later Bankim was a seer and nation-builder.” – Sri Aurobindo Last year, I talked a little about early Indian literature in English through the work of Toru Dutt, India’s first published woman writer in the language. But Dutt was not the first Indian novelist to…
Sarah Holz 