Category: Uncategorized
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Secret’s in the (Fish) Sauce: A Brief History of Rome’s Favorite Condiment
This week I want to take another look at some ancient cuisine, and specifically garum,—a fermented fish sauce that is particularly associated with the Romans, but was actually extremely popular throughout the Mediterranean. We’ll talk a bit about its composition and manufacture, its use and reputation, and then we’ll wrap things up with the triumphant…
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Talk From the Animals: Anthropomorphic (Auto)Biographies in Fiction
Blessings on thee, dog of mine,Pretty collars make thee fine,Sugared milk make fat thee !Pleasures wag on in thy tail —Hands of gentle motion failNevermore, to pat thee ! – from “To Flush, My Dog” (Elizabeth Barrett Browning) This week, I wanted to take a look at an interesting literary subgenre: books about animals told…
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Preview for 🦂DAUGHTER OF SCORPIONS🦂
Okay, folks, this week—as promised—I’m going to get into the next book a little bit, since I’m working through my editor’s notes and giving final approvals on the cover design (stay tuned to the bottom of this entry for a sneak peek at the latter!) I’ve mentioned this here before, but I had no expectations…
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My Best Reads of 2024
Here we are, at the end of another year already! I hope that your literary year, whether as a reader, a writer, or just a person questing for knowledge in all its forms, was fruitful. Because of a small effort to take some time off from writing (or at least, feel less guilty for not…
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Lions, and Tigers, and Bonnacons: Zoology and Allegory in Medieval Bestiaries
This week, I thought we’d take a look at one of the most interesting cultural artifacts to come out of the medieval period: the medieval bestiary. Although present throughout the Middle Ages and all over Europe, these elaborately illuminated animal catalogues were most popular during what is now often referred to by modern historians as…
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Here Be Rakshasas: Creative Fantasy Writing for the Non-Fantasy Writer
A little over a month ago, one of the classicists I semi-follow on the internet’s premier hellscape made the following observation in response to someone else’s tweet about creating magical systems in fantasy literature: Certainly, as a general fantasy non-enthusiast, I was inclined to agree. I don’t really care if a fantasy story’s magical system…
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Something Serious, Something Fun
I was going to make this week’s post a writing-focused one, mainly about creating worlds with magic/fantasy elements as a non-fantasy writer, but it’s been kind of draining week here in the US, and since I’m already late getting any kind of update out on schedule, I figured we’d shelve that for the next time.…
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Women Down: Fact, Fiction, and the Feminist Novellas of the Marys Wollstonecraft
“In an artless tale, without episodes, the mind of a woman, who has thinking powers is displayed. The female organs have been thought too weak for this arduous employment; and experience seems to justify the assertion. Without arguing physically about possibilities—in a fiction, such a being may be allowed to exist; whose grandeur is derived…
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Anne Again: Reviewing and Revisiting YA Holocaust Literature
In February of last year, I wrote an entry that was in the macro about authorial ethics in historical fiction and in the micro about fictional portrayals of Anne Frank specifically. I was pleased that entry seems to have connected with a number of you, both because I think it was an interesting and important…
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Mister Sandman: Artemidorus’ Oneirokritikon and the Surprising Science of Ancient Dream Interpretation
Caroline: I had this dream…Lloyd: Do we have to do dreams?Caroline: I’m in this restaurant, and the waiter brings me my entree. It was a salad. It was Lloyd’s head on a plate of spinach with his penis sticking out of his ear. And I said, “I didn’t order this.” And the waiter said, “Oh…
Sarah Holz 