Ancient Musings

NaNoWriMo 2011.

2011-11-01T00:09:00.000-07:00

This year for NaNoWriMo I decided that instead of starting a new novel, I would make an extra effort to work on the one I already have starring Themistocles. It's been harder than I ever anticipated to write a book, but I refuse to give up on my hero of Salamis. His story is just too interesting. Thus for the next 30 days I'm going work hard to create something that I can turn into an editor/agent. That's the best thing I can do for my writing this November!

The good news is that slowly things are starting to fall into place. By tightening up the timeline and allowing myself to be creative with certain events in Herodotus it's become less of a struggle to try and fit everything in, which means I can concentrate on fleshing out my characters. After all, what attracted me to this subject in the first place was not the events themselves but the people involved in them. Everyone from Themistocles to Leonidas to Artemisia strikes me as fascinating, and the chance to write about them is pretty exciting! Hopefully people will like how I present them...

So...what are you doing for NaNoWriMo this year?

Three Act Structure.

2011-09-25T21:34:00.001-07:00

Over two thousand years ago Aristotle made an observation that still holds true today: drama (story) has three acts: a beginning, a middle, and an end. Sometimes it's hard to remember that when you're so close to your own story. But by re-visiting this basic principle (straight out of Ancient Greece, no less!) my story is once again moving forward. It stalls and re-starts, stalls and re-starts, but slowly and surely a more solid structure is beginning to take place in my mind. Let's hope this trend continues!

BTW, here are some possible future blog topics:

A blog concerning the new movie "Immortals"
Book review for Games & Sanctuaries in Ancient Greece
Book review for Solon The Thinker
Book review for Archaic and Classical Greek Art
Book review for Public Records Archives Classical Greece
Book review for The Glory of Hera
Book review for The Archeology of Athens

Themistocles coming to a theater near you!

2011-07-27T12:35:00.000-07:00

Last year I reported that Frank Miller (author of the comic 300) was doing a prequel to the story of Thermopylae known as Xerxes. This year more information is starting to hit the media about the project, namely that there will be a movie based on the new comic called 300: The Battle of Artemisium, and that the comic (and hopefully movie) will co-star...Themistocles!

300: Battle of Artemisium

Personally I couldn't be more stoked about this. Sure, the 300 series is horribly inaccurate, and of course I don't blame people for being angry by the over-the-top portrayal of both sides, but hopefully this new project will get people interested in real history.

What do you think? Good idea? Bad idea? Interested? Do share!

The Ancient Ecclesia: What's Old is New Again.

2011-06-30T10:09:00.000-07:00

Has Greek history come full circle?

Today while reading about the protests in Greece (in which demonstrators have been gathering outside Athens' parliment building to protest austerity measures meant to stave off Greek insolvency), I came across this:

Every night [in Syntagma Square], the "people's assembly" gathers and decides, by a show of hands, what will be discussed. A volunteer and rotating "coordinating committee" then gives anybody who wants to speak a slip of paper with a number on it. Speakers speak for two minutes in the order numbers are drawn. The assembled then vote, with results quickly put up on a website.

What's startling about these organized meetings in Syntagma Square is that this is almost exactly what the Athenians used to do 2,500 years ago. Back then the men of the city (no women, slaves or non-citizens were allowed) would gather every week in an open space to discuss anything that affected their polis. The rotating "coordinating commitee" of today was then known as the Boule, a group of 500 citizens who set the agenda for the public assembly. The gathering place for this assembly--then known as the Ecclesia--was held on the Pynx, a rocky outcrop below the Acropolis. As with the protestors in Athens today, anybody in the Ecclesia could speak their mind on any topic, though instead of being given a number they would be given a wreath known as the Speaker's Wreath. After the speeches were finished, each item on the agenda would be voted on by a show of hands and the results posted in some sort of public forum (or at least the results were heard about from people hanging about around the market place).

Have the protestors in Syntagma Square taken a page from their ancestor's political playbook? It sure looks like it, and the ancient Ecclesia is not the only thing that they've taken their cues from. According to the same article, a group known as the "300" is collecting signatures to hold a referendum on the 110 billion euro bailout that saved Greece from bankruptcy last year in exchange for austerity. The "300" of course are named after the legendary Spartans who held their own against the massive Persian army at the battle of Thermopylae.

Although it's hard to say where Greece will go in the future, it's clear that modern Greeks are being influenced by their ancient past. I just hope that whatever happens in Greece, the result is a peaceful resolution that will be fair to everyone.

Themistocles & Aeschylus

2011-06-29T20:56:00.000-07:00

Did Themistocles (mastermind of the Ancient Athenian navy) and Aeschylus (playwright extraordinaire) know each other? The answer is a probable...yes!

Aeschylus was born around 525 BCE, while Themistocles was born between 525 and 520 BCE. They both fought at Marathon, both fought at Salamis (in fact Themistocles was the architect of this famous battle) and both achieved ever-lasting fame in their lifetimes. But is there any evidence that they knew each other personally? And if so, were they friends?

The odds of them having crossed paths is more than likely considering they were in the same battles and probably ran with similar crowds. Yet there's scance evidence of direct contact...except for a small (if suspiciously belated) clue. According to the 21 Letters of Themistocles, one of his friends was named Aeschylus! Here is the letter as translated by Patricia A. Rosenmeyer:

To Aeschylus

After leaving Athens and arriving in Delphi, I decided that, if the Athenians allowed it, I would settle down to live there. On the way I bumped into some friends of mine from Argos: Nicias and Meleager, as well as Eucrates, who had recently spent time in Athens. They stood around asking me questions, and when they learned about my ostracism, they immediately grew angry and blamed the Athenians in particular. When they realized I was planning on settling in Delphi, they stopped accusing the Athenians and began reporoaching me, saying they would be insulted if I didn't accept them as suitable people to share my bad luck. They also pointed out that my father Neocles had lived for a long time in Argos, and that I shouldn't dishonor the memory of his love for Argos and his Argive friends. They also went so far as to praise the Athenians for making me pay an approriate penalty. Finally they urged me to honor them with more than just an accidental encounter, and not to insult the good luck of our meeting up. Then again they pointed to the example of Neocles, saying how appropriate it would be for me to live in the same city and home as my father once had. So, Aeschylus, they convinced me and took me to Argos. Now that I've stopped fleeing and landed in Argos, I'm suffering greatly because I won't agree to rule the Argives. They want to force me to rule, and claim that I'm acting unjustly towards them if I don't assume power. But I'm perfectly happy not being considered to be a great man, and not just because I've already been hurt, by that reputation, but also because it's enough for me to have benefited from those things when I had to.

It is also supposed by some that Aeschylus' The Persians and its mention of Salamis was the playwright's way of reminding the Athenians that they owened Themistocles a debt. (Though according to some sources, Themistocles already financed a play called The Phoenissae,which also happens to celebrate the Battle of Salamis and in fact predates The Persians. )

In any case, Aeschylus and Themistocles were certainly aware of each other, and the playwright is going to be a part of my novel for sure!

Ancient Greek Recipes!

2011-06-09T19:46:00.000-07:00

The Complete Greek Cookbook by Theresa Karas Yianilos is one of those charming little cookbooks you can only find these days in used bookstores. Published in MCMLXX according to the front page (1970), The Best From 3000 Years of Greek Cooking is an easy and enjoyable read. The recipes contained within really do cover the span of 3000 years of brilliant Greek cooking, and each recipe is presented with both its history and a surprisingly easy-to-follow list of instructions (though ingredients like camel may be hard to find these days).

Below are a few ancient recipes taken from the book that not only sound delicious, but are full of interesting facts!

Archaic Bread

The earliest kind of Greek bread was a simple, flat, hard crusted hearth bread, coarse and heavy because the barley flour used in it had a low gluten content. This ancient recipe, described tby Athenaeus in a third century book on cookery is still followed in the Near East.

2 cups warm water or scalded milk cooled to lukewarm
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons barley meal
6 cups flour, barley or stone ground whole wheat

Mix all ingredients except flour into a 2 quart jar. Place jar in a pan of hot water and let stand in a warm place free of drafts until fermentation begins--aproximately twelve hours or more. Replace hot water every 4 hours. Mix in 2 cups of the flour. Set aside once again in a warm place. Replace hot water in pan. A sponge should be formed in 4 to 6 hours. Put 4 cups flour in a bowl, make a well, and add sponge. Kneed well, lightly dusting your hands with flour until dough is smooth. Shape and put into oiled loaf pan. Cover with damp towel and place in a draft-free place to rise for 4 to 6 hours. It will not rise as high as modern breads. Bake in preheated over at 375 F. for 10 minutes. Reduct to 350 F. 50 minutes.

Boned Oysters

This recipe comes from Chares of Mytilene, Lesbos, an historian of the 3rd Century.

"Use only the large Asiatic oysters caught in the Indian Ocearn, Black Sea, or the Persian and Arabian gulfs. Use the delicious white meat only. Discard the round white bone sometimes discovered inside theshell--or give it to some Persian. They seem to prefer these bones to gold; they call them 'pearls'."

1 dozen oysters, fresh or frozen
1 cup flour
1/2 cup oil
salt and pepper to taste

Drain liquid from jar. Roll in flour. Heat it until hot in a large frying pan. Fry oysters on medium-high heat for 5 minutes turning over once. Sprinkle with seasonings and serve.

Athenian Cheese Cake

Thousand of years ago, the respected Greek poet and gourmet, Archestratus wrote "Forget all other dessert, there is only one: the Athenian cheese cake with Attica honey from Hymettus."

Filling:
4 eggs, separated
12/ cup honey or sugar
1 lemon, juice and rind
1/2 cup flour
1 pond pot cheese, either small curd cottage, hoop mezithra or cream
1 cup sour cream or yogurt
Crust:
1 cup crumbs from zwiback rusks, cookies or graham crackers
1/4 cup ground walnuts or almonds
2 tablespons oil or butter

In a large bowl, beat egg whites until stiff (with a sprinkle of salt). In a blender blend yolks, honey, lemon juice, rind, floud and cheese for a few seconds. Fold batter into egg whites using spatula. Fold in sour cream. In a separate bowl mix crumbs and nuts together. Grease the bottom and sides of a large cake pan or spring-form cake pan. Spread crumbs over bottom and sides. Pour mixture in cake pan and bake at 325 F. for 45 minutes. Chill in cake pan 6 hours before cutting and serving.

Spiced Wine Hippocrates

This is a prescirption concoted by the great physician Hippocrates who lived in the fifth century BC. He even invented a bag in which to filter his wine!

Serves 6

1 quart wine, red or white
1 cup honey
3 cloves
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon orange peel

Mix all ingredients and heat slowly over low heat. Strain into decanter or cup.

Roast Camel Aristotle

In ancient Greece camel was served to royalty. Aristophanes mentions camel meat in his writings, and Aristotle praises it as being tasty.

Allow 1 pound meat per person: hump, stomach, or feet
Marinade:
1 cup olive oil
Juice of 2 lemons
2 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon oregano
cumin and coriander

Mix marinade ina bowl. Marinade camel for four hours turning meat over if skewered.
Spoon sauce over meat if left whole. Bake for 2 to 3 hours at 325 F. or allow 30 minutes per pound.

The Complete Greek Cookbook contains 300 delicious recipes that with time and patience can be mastered by anyone. It's a great introduction to Greek cooking and full of awesome historical facts that will not only appease your inner chef, but your inner historican as well. :)

More Awesome Books on Greece!

2011-05-09T14:16:00.000-07:00

I apologize for not updating more regularly, Gentle Readers. Sometimes I go through peaks and valleys with my writing, and lately I'm not sure where my enthusiasm ran off to. As always when this happens, I try to look for something that will inspire me. And so I headed to a nearby used bookstore for ideas, and look what I found!

One is a Greek cookbook that contains both ancient and modern Greek meals (I've already highlighted all sorts of interesting recipes), and the other is a book exploring how certain tales out of Greek mythology may have reflected the turbulant real-life relations between family members in ancient times.

I'm also looking forward to getting this book in the mail:

The First Clash: The Miraculous Greek Victory at Marathon and Its Impact on Western Civilization

It's written by Jim Lacey, a military historian and a combat veteran. I'm hoping his research will help me understand the layout of Marathon better and what it was actually like to fight there. (The Battle of Marathon is the opening chapter of my story, and despite having other books on the subject it's been a real struggle for me to write about.)

More thoughts and updates coming soon!

Themistocles in Love (Part 2).

2011-04-11T10:42:00.001-07:00

As I stated in my previous blog, moving Themistocles' love interest to the front and center of my novel has done wonders for my plot. Archippe gives my hero a reason for doing everything from attacking Aegina to fighting off Persia. Marrying her is the goal to which Themistocles aspires, and he'll do anything and everything to obtain that goal. But who was Archippe, really?

Archippe: What's in a Name?

According to Plutarch, Archippe was the daughter of Lysander of Alopece and the mother of at least three of Themistocles' living sons. We know very little about her, but we can deduce from both her deme (Alopece was the headquarters of the rich and influential Alcmaeonidae) and her name (Archippe means something like "horse master" or "dominant mare")that she was part of a wealthy family. We also know that she was Themistocles' first wife, because the statesmen was reported to have married another woman later in his life by whom he had several daughters. What happened to Archippe remains a mystery; other than her deme, father's name and her role as Themistocles wife, very little is known about her.

Having a character with unclear origins can be both a blessing and a curse. It's hard to historically tie someone like Archippe into the larger scheme of things because so little is known about her. The good news is that because so little is known about her, I can make up whatever I want! Thus I decided to connect Archippe to a minor branch of the Eteoboutadai clan, which is a great way to introduce her not only as an important person in Themistocles' life, but also as an important person in Athens.

The Eteoboutadai

The Eteoboutadai were one of the oldest and most prestigious families in Ancient Athens. Named after the hero Boutes (brother of Athens' first king Erechtheus), the Eteoboutadai were decedents of Bronze Age royalty and were in charge of the cult of Poseidon-Erechtheus and Athena-Polias. According to Pausanias, one wall of the Erechtheion even had portraits of the family on it. In short, this was one of if not the most important clans in all of Athens.

Alas, the chances of Archippe actually being associated with the family are slim. Her deme of Alopace was associated with the Antiochides (at least post-democratic reform) and the Eteoboutadai were associated with other areas in and around Athens. Still, because Alopece was an aristocratic deme and Archippe clearly of a good family, it is possible that Archippe was related to the Eteoboutadai through the course of various marriages.

The Girl from Alopece

Whoever Archippe was, she was important enough to have her name remembered by historians, which was a rare thing for Ancient Athenian women. How she felt about Themistocles is unknown, but her being the mother of possibly five of Themistocles' many children points to a healthy love life, at least at some point during their marriage. Personally I'd like to think that they loved each other, but I assure you that in my story Themistocles is going to have to work hard to get the girl! ;)

Themistocles in Love (Part 1).

2011-03-26T13:08:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I touched upon the importance of motivation in a story. What DRIVES someone to do what they do? After talking with my sister, I realized that Themistocles didn't have a clear motive in my novel. He had a goal of sorts: to be the leader of Athens. The why of it however eluded me. Why not? I thought. Of course that wasn't good enough. Something is behind that ambition. Something is pushing him. Hard. And then I realized that the something is actually someone. That someone is a girl named Archippe.

Since the earliest drafts my novel, Archippe (mentioned briefly in Plutarch as the wife of Themistocles) always figured into things. Even as my story changed over the years she was always there in some form, either as the bitchy, bossy wife or the demure caretaker. When I realized that she's more important to the story than I originally gave her credit for, I decided to move Archippe from the sidelines into the spotlight. And as easy as that even the most elusive elements of my story started to fall into place!

Things like Themistocles' rivalry with Aristides. The war with Aegina. The ousting of several political rivals. The growing tension with Sparta. The war with Persia. It's positively startling how clear things are now that I have something that really DRIVES Themistocles to do what he does. You may argue this revelation is really just Writing 101, and you'd be right, but it's amazing how easy it is to overlook the basics when trying to write something you hope will be epic.

Now I admit that love seems like a cliche reason to do anything. But I promise you that Themistocles' methods are anything but orthadox! He'll lie, cheat, steal and swindle to get what he wants. But in the end it's hard not to cheer for someone who wants to obtain something as pure as love. Even if he has to step on a couple of necks to do it...

BTW, for fun I'll link to a chapter in my original story The Owl & The Eagle. It's told from the PoV of Archippe. Pardon the spelling errors. :p

Japan Earthquake (How to Help).

2011-03-11T19:57:00.000-08:00

By now most of you know about the terrible earthquake and tsunami that hit off the north-east coast of Japan yesterday. I have friends there and luckily they are alright, but many people are devastated by this disaster. If you would like to help the people of Japan, many non-profit groups are asking for donations. For a complete list of these organizations, please click on this link.

Let's keep the people of Japan in our thoughts and prayers, and send them lost of positive vibes.

Motive.

2011-03-06T12:54:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I had a really great talk with my sister about my Themistocles novel. Talking with her, I learned something was missing from my novel: motivation. No, really. What drove Themistocles to do what he did and be willing to gamble everything on it? What made him decide to spend money on a navy instead of spreading the wealth among the citizens of Athens? What made him decide to risk staying at Salamis instead of retreating to Corinth when the Persians were invading Greece?

I tried to explain that in my novel Themistocles learns about naval tactics by talking with merchants, sailors and rowers. Even though he's a hoplite he has a curiosity about the ocean. My sister shook her head. "No, no, no! He must have learned it through experience. Something happened. Something that drove him to build a navy and command it!"

Which I now realize is exactly right. Themistocles' convictions about naval tactics were SO strong in 480 BCE he MUST have experienced them first hand. And so I decided to think carefully about what could have convinced Themistocles to gamble everything on the sea. What experience did he have before the battles of Artemisium and Salamis?

I think I have an idea...

More soon!

Writing Update.

2011-01-23T16:20:00.001-08:00

Hello, Gentle Readers!

Sorry I've been MIA, but I've been busy with work, voice acting and playing video games like Mass Effect 2. :)

That's not to say I've given up on my writing. In fact, I think I may have stumbled upon a great idea for my Themistocles novel. Why not start it at the Battle of Marathon? I think that would provide an exciting opening, and allow me to guide the reader through the most interesting parts of Themistocles' life with a few flashbacks to fill in his background. It would tighten up the story and keep the pace fast and furious. I've also found an additional motivation for his climb to the top: Archippe.

Archippe was the real-life wife of Themistocles and the daughter of a noble who may have been related to Aristides (my theory--they were from the same area). Archippe was probably out of reach to Themistocles until he was able to establish a name for himself, especially since he was half foreign and not from a well-known family. I think this gives the novel a bit of romance and fun, and an additional motivation for Themistocles to be the best man in Athens.

What do you guys think? Is starting the novel at Marathon a good idea? What about Archippe? Would that be something you'd be interested in reading about?

The Pericles Commission Book Review.

2011-01-02T20:02:00.000-08:00

"A dead man fell from the sky, landing at my feet with a thud."

And so begins The Pericles Commission, an exciting, fast-paced and surprisingly humorous political thriller set in Ancient Athens.

Written by the very talented Gary Corby, The Pericles Commission follows the investigation of Nicolaos, (son of Sophroniscus and elder brother of a very young Socrates) who is commisioned by Pericles (yes, THAT Pericles) to find out who killed Ephialtes, the flying dead man from the above passage and leader of Athens' fledgling democracy. Nicolaos' investigation ends up taking him all over Athens as he looks for clues, and even has him making friends as well as enemies in both high and low places. The odds are stacked against Nicolaos from the beginning, but with perseverance and a little help from an unlikely ally or two, Nicolaos is able to navigate the dark underbelly of Athenian politics. What he finds however is a conspiracy larger than he could ever have imagined...

There are three things that I absolutely love about this book. One is the pacing. It's fast-paced and never dull, while still managing to be a robust 322 pages long. Two is the attention to detail. I felt like I was back in Athens and could easily visualize the people and places. Third is the humor sprinkled about the story. It helps lighten the otherwise dark tale of murder, mystery and mayhem (lots of mayhem!). If there is anything to nitpick, it's that a couple of events stretch crudulity. Luckily these events were so entertaining to read that I didn't mind at all. Gary Corby knows how to show the reader a good time.

The Pericles Commission is a fun and educational read, and everyone who loves Ancient Greece should snap up a copy. I myself am looking forward to the next entry in the series, as a certain wily politician that I just happen to like may make an appearence...

The Return of Cleomenes.

2010-12-27T11:56:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays, Everyone!

I hope you had a great time with family and friends, or at the very least enjoyed time by yourself and caught up on things like eating yummy food and curling up with a good book.I myself spent a very merry Christmas with my family and even texted friends with my new smart phone (a Samsung Fascinate). I've also done a lot of writing.

Still a bit stuck on my Themistocles novel, I found myself writing a story for a video game based on Heracles instead (more about that on a future blog). I also returned to a murder mystery I had started long ago about the death of King Cleomenes I of Sparta. Who is Cleomenes, you ask? Well...

Cleomenes was a very unusual ruler. Unlike other Spartan kings who were more or less hereditary generals, Cleomenes was an aggressive policy maker as well as a fearsome warrior. He bullied his allies, tried to kill off the fledgling democracy in Athens, bribed the Oracle at Delphi in order to get rid or a rival, burned down a sacred grove near Argos where enemy soldiers had taken refuge, and threw Persian messengers down a well after they demanded tokens of submission. This was a cunning and often unpredictible monarch.

Cleoemenes' death was as unusual as his life. After finally being caught bribing the Pythia at Delphi, he fled Sparta in an attempt to escape prosecution. Somehow the Spartans managed to coax him back into the polis, but by then his sanity had begun to slip, and he started poking passersby with his staff of office. The Spartans claimed they had no choice but to lock him up, leaving a helot (a sort of Spartan slave or serf) to watch over him. According to Herodotus, Cleomenes managed to somehow talk the helot into giving him a knife. Once the weapons was handed over Cleomenes then began to disembowel himself, dying a painful and gruesome death. Why the helot didn't stop him is unclear; perhaps he simply wasn't sorry to see his master go. In any case the Spartans ruled the king's death a suicide, blaming his madness and subsequent end on his excessive drinking habit. Apparently nobody challenged this rather dubious explanation (perhaps because most people outside Sparta simply assumed that his suicide was divine retribution for bribing the Oracle and burning down the sacred grove near Argos), and the matter of the king's death was soon forgotten in the face of an impending invasion by Persian forces.

My story starts after Cleomenes' death, and is told from the point of view of Orthryades, the king's closest companion and the only one willing to investigate the death as a crime. As he questions each suspect Orthryades starts having flashbacks of all of Cleomenes' wrong-doings and how they affected people, allowing the reader to understand how and why Cleomenes ended up with so many enemies.

By the end of the first few chapters the protagonist finds himself with a long list of suspects. There's Prince Leonidas (next in line for the Agiad throne), Prince Cleombrotus (also in line for the Agiad throne) King Demaratus (disposed Eurypontid king and rival to Cleomenes), King Leotychidas (current Eurypontid king who may have wanted to be rid of a difficult partner-in-crime), Prince Euryanax (son of Prince Dorieus, half-brother to Cleomenes who died overseas after an unsuccessful attempt to take the throne from his older sibling)and Dieneces (leader of Sparta's secret police and Demaratus' loyal right-hand man). There are also a lot of witnesses who may know more than they are letting on, including Princess Gorgo (daughter of Cleomenes and wife to Leonidas) and Prince Pausanias (son of Prince Cleombrotus).

At any rate, I'm pretty excited about revisiting this story. I think Cleomenes is one of Sparta's most fascinating kings and a murder mystery surrounding his death makes for a good tale. What do you guys think? Interesting? Boring? Confusing? Let me know in the comments section! (And don't worry, I'm still working on Themistocles' story!)

Plot? What Plot?

2010-12-09T10:56:00.001-08:00

SMMMMMACK!

Hear that? That's the sound of yours truly hitting the dreaded Writer's Block.

You see, I can't seem to go forward with my Themistocles novel. Why? The pacing is all wrong.

I read once that often people struggle with pacing because they don't have a concrete plot. My plot is about the rise and fall of Ancient Greece's best military strategist. It's a fictional autobiography. The idea is to cover his entire life (which was fascinating from beginning to end). Yet how can I do that when 80% of the story takes place in the MIDDLE of his life? I don't relish the idea of starting the tale during the Persian Wars. It strikes me as disjointed. Any ideas?

Help!

Nano Fail.

2010-12-01T16:34:00.001-08:00

Well, I pretty much failed NanoWriMo (poor Artemisia) but I'm still happy I tried. If nothing else this was good writing practice and inspired me to go back and take a look at another story I started but never finished (a murder mystery involving the uber-insane King Cleomenes I of Sparta). I've also had sufficient enough time away from my Themistocles novel to go back and see it with fresh eyes. So it looks like I have three novels I need to finish: I, Themistocles, Cleomenes and Queen of The Wine Dark Sea.

Next blog up is my review of The Pericles Commission. Here's a big hint: it's GOOD.

NanoWriMo Report

2010-11-18T16:39:00.000-08:00

Yes, I'm still writing my "Artemisia novel" for NanWriMo. It's not the most epic writing ever, but the idea is to get to the 50,000 word mark by November 30th. Truth be told, I may not make it. It's harder than you think to write an average of 1500 words or so a day. I can't seem to get past 500 and some days I'm too tired or unmotivated to put anything down. But I'm still working at it. At the very least this will give me enough time away from my Themistocles novel to go back and look at it with fresh eyes.

Speaking of novels on Ancient Greece, I've also finally gotten around to ordering The Pericles Commission off of Amazon! I and am super excited to read it because very few fiction writers write about Ancient Greece with a touch of humor. Not only that, but I've read reviews that exclaim how great Gary Colby is at making readers feel like they're actually in Ancient Athens. Good times!

And finally at some point I have to get around to playing Ghost of Sparta. I'm a huge God of War fan and IGN has given it a very positive review. Nice!

Want To Win A Trip To Greece? Click Here!

2010-11-11T13:56:00.000-08:00

Want to win a trip to Greece? Of course you do!

All you have to do is take the God of War Quiz on IGN and you'll be entered for a chance to win a vacation for two to Athens. You don't even have to get every answer right, so if you're not well-versed in Kratos lore you can still play to win. Go take the quiz. Now!

THIS. IS. KRATOS!

*In case you're wondering why I'm not entering I can't. I'm an employee of the company. But I'd love for someone who reads my blog to win and take lots of pictures for me! :D

Entering Into The World of NaNoWriMo.

2010-10-29T13:40:00.000-07:00

November is National Novel Writing Month, and I decided to join in on the fun in the hopes it will motivate me to write more and edit less. If you don't know what it is, here's a blurb from the website:

"National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.

Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved.

Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It's all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.

Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that's a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down."

This year I've decided to focus on a novella involving Queen Artemisia of Halicarnassus, the first female naval commander in history. It's part historical fiction, part romance. I'll be updating the project both here and on the site, so look for that soon.

An idea of what Artemisia looks like to me.

In the meantime, I'm still working on my Themistocles novel, though it's going slower than I'd like. Themistocles needs more personal conflict in the beginning, which is hard because he's so young. Hopefully something will inspire me by participating in the above contest.

Speaking of which, I encourage you to join as well. It's a fun way to learn and a good way to meet people (though DON'T believe anyone who says they're an editor or agent looking to buy your book, especially if they ask for fees up front). You can access the site by clicking on the link above. :)

Blog Revisions

2010-10-25T21:35:00.000-07:00

If you glance slightly to your right, you'll notice I'm making a few changes to my blog's format. See? -------------->

I thought it would be fun to organize my posts by labeling them more clearly. From now on, you can view my take on everything from Ancient Greece in movies to Ancient Greece in video games, as well as read book reviews or even pieces of my upcoming Themistocles novel. It's all still a bit messy of course, but at least I've labled most of my blog posts and added a couple of neat gadgets for people to look at.

Let me know what you think and what suggestions you might have!

More Buried Treasure.

2010-10-10T23:10:00.000-07:00

Last week I told you how I stumbled upon a gem of a book I found at a used bookstore. This week I went back to said bookstore and found yet ANOTHER gem. This one is called Voyages in Classical Mythology, and I snatched it up for only $15.

Voyages in Classical Mythology is an encyclopedia that chronicles the voyages and adventures of 44 heroes and deities from Greek and Roman mythology. Besides recounting the tales of famous heroes like Herakles and Achilles, author Mary Snodgrass also covers the travels of lesser-known characters like Nauplius and Palinurus. Although this book doesn't directly help me with my Themistocles novel, it does sometimes explain the origins of certain place names in and around Attica/Athens which I find useful. For example, history tells us that Themistocles lived in an area of Athens called Melite. As it turns out, Melite was the name of a queen of Athens whom King Aegeus divorced because she bore him no children. It's the kind of fun fact I like to slip into my stories.

Each hero's story is broken down into four parts: genealogy and background, journey, alternate versions of the story and the symbolism behind the tale. This makes reading the book much easier to digest and allows the reader to keep everything straight in their head. There are even bullet points for heroes like Herakles who not only went everywhere but did everything.

It would have been nice if the book had focused on maybe ten heroes and really done an in-depth analysis of their travels around Greece and their influence on Ancient Greek culture, but this book is really meant as a basic encyclopedia of Ancient Greek and Roman deities and heroes and to be enjoyed by anyone of any age. At only $15 and full of interesting stories fun facts, Voyages in Classical Mythology is a good book to own.

Finding Buried Treasure.

2010-10-04T21:03:00.001-07:00

These days it's very hard for me to find a book on Ancient Greece I don't already have. Every week I poke around Borders looking for something new on the subject, and every month I do a search on Amazon's massive website to see if I missed anything. Lately it seems the only books I don't have on Ancient Greece are ones I can't afford (some textbooks cost well over a hundred dollars). So imagine my surprise when I nonchalantly glided into a used book store the other day and found (gasp!) a book on Ancient Greece I'd never seen...for only seven bucks!

A History of The Greek City States 700-338 B.C. by Raphael Sealey is a great find. Published in 1976, this book gives a basic account of...well, the Greek city-states between 700-338 BCE. But what makes it stand out is the level of detail. The author dives into not only what happened but WHY. Take a look at this paragraph from Appendix A, which tries to explain some oddities in Cleisthenes' division of the trittyes, demes and tribes:

"Usually each trittys held a connected parcel of territory, but [D.M.] Lewis draws attention to some anomalies. Two of these are especially revealing. The first concerns the costal trittys of the tribe Pandionis. Most of this trittys lay in a block south of Brauron; but the deme Probalinthos, just south of Marathon, belonged to the same trittys, although seperated from it by the coastal trittys of the tribe Aegeis. This anomaly can be explained.

There was a much older unit, the Tetrapolis, consisting of the adjacent villages of Marathon, Oenoe, Trikorythos and Probalinthos; this continued to perform religious functions; indeed as late as the first century B.C., on occasion when the Athenian state sent the sacred deputation called the Pythias to Delphi, the Marathonian Tetrapolis sent its own seperate envoys. Cleisthenes detached Probalinthos from the old Tetrapolis and allocated it to the more distant trittys of the tribe Pandionis. The district of Marathon had Peisistratid connections; the anomaly surely reveals a desire to prevent the old Tetrapolis from retaining political significance."

Super detailed, right? Although all this convoluted stuff might explain why I'm one of the few people crazy enough to take on this time period in Athenian history. There's a LOT going on!

In short, A History of The Greek City States 700-338 B.C. is full of maps, illustrations, notes and interesting ideas. If you can find it or order it online, it's a good one to have in your collection (at least if you love ridiculous amounts of detail like me).

The Lightning Thief (Full Review)

2010-09-30T12:47:00.000-07:00

Percy Jackson & The Olympians is not really for adults. It's a tween adventure series meant to be read by 6th graders just starting to learn about Ancient Greece and Rome. Still, that didn't stop me from picking the first book up at Borders yesterday, and I have to say that I found The Lightning Thief to be a quick and entertaining read.

The basic premise of the story is this: Percy Jackson is an somewhat ordinary if troubled kid from New York who finds himself in the middle of a war between the gods. It turns out that Percy (Perseus) is the son of Poseidon and is suspected of stealing Zeus' master lightning bolt, which allows any god that posseses it to rule over all of Olympus. Of course the poor kid has no idea what's going on (or even who his father is) until every imaginable monster from Greek mythology comes after him and he's forced to go on a quest to clear his name. Tagging along for the ride is Annabeth, daugher of Athena, and a satyr named Grover. They have only until the summer solstice to find the missing bolt and return it to Zeus, otherwise a war between the gods will commence, and the world will be destroyed.

What I really love about this series is the idea that the Greek Pantheon not only existed in ancient times but still exists today; as long as Western Civilization lives on, so do The Olympians. Author Rick Riordan doesn't just have them sitting around Olympus wearing chitons and togas either; the Olympians are active around different cities in America and have modernized themselves: Dionysus wears a Hawaiian shirt, Ares rides a motorcycle, Charon likes Italian suits and Medusa owns a shop that (naturally) sells stone statues. This unique twist makes for some great reading, and the action is fast and furious as various monsters pop up (always in interesting disguises) in an attempt to prevent Percy from completing his quest.

I only have a couple of complaints about this book. One is that Annabeth is said to be the daughter of Athena. Anyone worth their weight in Greek mythology knows that Athena is a virgin (along with Hestia and Artemis). Another is that the kids can't seem to learn their lessons fast enough when it comes to monsters. They keep ignoring their instincts and doing things that get them into trouble. I'm aware that it's a plot device, but sometimes I have to shake my head at the lack of common sense these kids sometimes show.

Speaking of learning lessons, I DO like how Rick Riordan explains learning disabilities like dyslexia and ADHD, both of which Percy has. Rather than them being something that kids should be ashamed of, they are something magical. For Percy, dyslexia is a result of his brain being hard-wired for Ancient Greek instead of English, and his ADHD is explained as a battlefield reflex, one that will save him in his fight against powerful monsters. I think that sends a really positive message to children: ADHD and dyslexia are not disabilities that you should be ashamed of. They do NOT make you stupid in any way, shape or form.

The Lightning Thief is not a long read; it's 375 pages of big print and short chapters, each full of adventure and starring a likable young hero who is able to overcome all manner of adversity in order to save the world. I managed to get through the entire book in a day, and am thinking about getting the next book in the series soon. So if you like Greek history and mythology, I highly recommend The Lightning Thief. :)

Themistocles Update.

2010-09-20T10:02:00.000-07:00

Last night I managed to type out over 3,000 words for my novel. I'm proud of this accomplishment because it's been so long since I've been hit by the Muses like this. The chapter involves a sneaky Themistocles, a clever Mnesiphilus and a very crafty Cleisthenes. At some point I might post this one. We'll see!

Greekless in Seattle

2010-09-07T21:58:00.000-07:00

First, I have to apologize for not updating my blog in awhile. I've been busy with my job, as well as some other stuff. Still, that doesn't mean I haven't been working on my Themistocles novel. In fact, I've started to carefully reconstruct it using an Excel worksheet, and I have to say this method of outlining has been really successful so far! I'll be sure to blog about it later.

In the meantime, my job took me to Seattle for a gaming even called PAX, where I was a speaker at the IGN Girlfight panel. If you don't know what it is, Girlfight is the name of a podcast on IGN featuring me and four other women talking about video games and any relevant topic pertaining to them. It's a far cry from Ancient Greece (well, unless you count games like God of War and Kid Icarus), and I didn't expect to see anything that would inspire ideas for my novel. How wrong I was!

I arrived in Seattle Friday afternoon, and was welcomed not by blustering winds and showering rain, but by a flawless blue sky that arched elegantly above lush green boulevards and the most pristine city streets I’ve ever seen. So, I decided to take advantage of the great weather and play tourist, visiting everything from the Space Needle to the famous Pike Street Fish Market. I even saw the original Starbucks...I think. The chain is so ubiquitous that I couldn't even tell which coffee shop was the original--there are two old-school stores right down the street from each other!

But what really surprised me was the Seattle Art Museum. It's home to mostly modern art, which to be honest doesn't appeal to me. I mean, I too can paint a canvas blue and call it something exotic, like Tears of a Whale or Mermaid Eyes. Luckily the museum also features wings dedicated to more traditional art pieces, including artifacts from Ancient Greece, Persia and Egypt. Naturally since I'm a lover of history, I took in every detail of every vile, vase and votive offering with relish. I was especially surprised to see a small portion of the palace wall from Persapolis, featuring a servant carrying a wine skin to King Darius. And as always I was amazed at how well intact all the Greek pottery was, despite being thousands of years old.

So, Greekless in Seattle? I expected to be, considering I was attending a video game event. But happily I was able to see some rare pieces from Ancient Greece, and that has inspired me to get going on my novel!

Marathon: "Nike" (Just Do It)

2010-08-23T22:04:00.000-07:00

Close to 2500 years ago, a small army of Athenian Greeks and their plucky Plataian allies took a bold stand against an invading army. It was at a place called Marathon that the outnumbered Hellenes achieved total victory against the might Persian Empire. This victory is still known today by almost everyone, thanks to a young runner named Philippides who practically flew the 26 mile distance between Marathon and Athens to report the stunning win. Once he arrived in the city, Philippides used the last of his strength to shout "NIKE!" (victory) and immediately dropped dead. The modern Marathon race is in his honor.

Writing a book about the Battle of Marathon is an excellent idea, and Professor Richard A. Billows is smart to release this book on the eve of the battle's 2500th anniversary. Unfortunately, Marathon: How One Battle Changed Western Civilization wasn't quite what I was hoping for. Rather than a detailed account of the battle with an array of new theories to offer, the entire first half of the book is simply a broad overview of Archaic Greece. That's great for those just starting to dip their toes into the world of ancient history, but for those of us who are a bit more advanced, it's kind of a let down.

To be fair, the author has some imaginative insights. He stresses what it was like to actually be there. The sights, the sounds (or lack there of), the smells; even the feel of what it must have been like to be a phalanx hoplite. When trying to capture a sense of the ancient experience for a modern audience, Billows smartly compares phalanx warfare not to modern warfare, but that "...It is rather the experience of being in a huge crowd that gives way to commotion: a demonstration crowd, perhaps, confronting a formation of police and surging to and fro under police baton charges, or the water canon, or charges mounted police." Professor Billows also offers a strong case for which route the Athenians took to return to Athens after the battle (some think a mountain pass and some think the main road; according to the author, it was probably both). Yet even with this insight I was disappointed there wasn't more.

Like many battles in history, most of the time spent at Marathon was a waiting game. The Greeks and Persians waited for days before anyone actually made a move. This gave the Athenians a lot of time to think. Not just about the Persians, but about their surroundings. What did the Ancient Greeks think when they saw the eerie marsh lights flickering above the swampy marshland that surrounded Marathon? What did the local sanctuary dedicated to Herakles possibly look like? Would the Greeks have made sacrifices at this sanctuary along with any other local shrines in the hopes of being granted victory in battle? What would it have been like to cut down local trees and use them as a barrier against a cavalry charge? Didn't the Persians SEE this happening? How long would it have taken? How many men could the Greeks afford to spare from patrol duties in order to finish the project? I would love answers to these types of questions.

That said, it's pretty apparent that this book isn't really aimed at more advanced students of Ancient Greek history. It's really a guide for those who might be curious about why a modern Olympic even is named after a long forgotten battle. Thus, I can't object to any book that teaches people history. :)

3.5/5 Stars

Chrono Trigger: Good or Bad Historical Fiction?

2010-08-17T20:51:00.000-07:00

I'm almost finished with the Marathon book, and hope to have a review up by the weekend, but in the meantime...

I love history. And I love historical fiction. AND I know that my Themistocles story is important to tell. I've felt that ever since I came across Berry Strauss' The Battle of Salamis five years ago. I've always wanted to read a book that really dove into the historical figure who made that battle happen. More to the point, I've always wanted to BE that person. Yet I keep getting stuck. Over and over and over again. Events happen quickly in Herodotus, and sometimes it's hard to get a handle on WHEN they happen. It makes my ficitonal autobiography all the harder to write. Yet I know that Themistocle is like Churchill: he would want to tell the tale himself, and he would want to tell the WHOLE story.

I've decided that in order to do just that, I'm going to have to go outside the box. Things are going to have to happen sooner. A LOT sooner. And sometimes out of historical sequence. The historian in me kicks and screams against this, but the author in me realizes that this is not only an easier way to write Themistocles' "autobiography", but it may also prove to be easier and more entertaining for the reader.

What say you, Gentle Readers? If Cleomenes' attack on Argos happened BEFORE Aristagoras arrived in Athens, would you be offended? If the events of the first Persian War took place in LESS than ten years, would you balk? Let me know in the comments section below!*

* Also 1,000 HP to the reader who gets the title reference. :)

My Birthday Party with Miltiades.

2010-08-09T20:59:00.000-07:00

Today is my birthday, and although I spent most of the day recovering from a cold, I still think it's been a pretty cool start to this birthday year. On Friday I went out with my co-workers for an early b-day party, Saturday I got my hair done and then yesterday I went out with my family to one of my favorite SF restaurants before we headed to the bookstore. What books did I get for my birthday? History books, of course!

The first book is Richard A. Billows' Marathon: How One Battle Changed Western Civilization, and the other is Lost to The West by Lars Brown Worth. I'll hold off on my review of Marathon for now, but I will say that I'm really enjoying Lost to The West. I've never paid much attention to the Byzantine Empire, but it's actually quite an interesting subject. Lars Brownworth is a solid writer, and takes pains to make the convoluted history of the empire easy to understand. So if you've always wondered about the Eastern half of the Roman Empire, pick this book up. It's great!

Oh, and don't worry, Themistocles fans. I'll have another piece of my story up for you to read soon! :)

Xerxes: The Comic Book!

2010-07-19T16:30:00.000-07:00

If you're a fan of 300 (the comic or the movie), you might be interested to know that Frank Miller is making another graphic novel, this time based on King Xerxes.

The new comic, which will come out in six installments starting next year, is based on the movie's fictional portrayal of Xerxes, played by Rodrigo Santaro. It will start ten years before the Battle of Thermopylae, opening with the Battle of Marathon (woot!) and following Xerxes' meteroic rise to power and his search for godhood. But what REALLY interests me is the news that one of the main characters will be none other than...THEMISTOCLES!

According to Frank Miller, Themistocles is..."[A] character who is the dead opposite of Leonidas in that Themistocles is a conniving, brilliant heroic figure. He was nicknamed the 'Subtle Serpant' and he always manages to do the exact right things that will resault in him benefiting greatly."

I'm stoked because my entire novel is told by Themistocles, who is out to prove his metis, that combination of quick thought and bold action. I feel like the more people who acknoledge his cleverness the better told his story will be.

Speaking of stories, I enjoyed both the comic book and the movie 300, and I am certainly lookning forward to this prequel. Maybe I should aim to have my book published by next year as a companion source? ;)

Writers In Pain.

2010-07-16T12:06:00.000-07:00

Looks like I'm in good company:

What Took You So Long?

The thing is, I don't WANT to give up. Themistocles needs his story told. And I want to tell it. I just worry I'm not good enough...

Archaic Athens: The Bluebeard Temple.

2010-06-23T10:19:00.000-07:00

The Bluebeards of Bluebeard Temple.

When most people think of the Athenian Acropolis, they think of the Parthenon with its massive columns or the Erechtheum with its famous porch. But in Themistocles' time, these structures didn't exist. In fact, most of the structures you see on the Acropolis today are from the Periclean Age. This of course makes writing about Archaic Athens a bit tricky, but also fun. In some ways I feel like a fantasy author, introducing the reader to a whole new world they've never been to. One of the things I would like to introduce my readers to today is an ancient structure known as the Bluebeard Temple.

This temple was built in the Archaic period (800 BCE to 480 BCE) and was sacred to Athena Polieas, (Protectress of the City). It is refered to as the Bluebeard Temple because of the pedimental three-bodied man-serpant sculpture whose beards were painted a dark blue (other pediments of the temple may also have included snakes, lions and even a Gorgan) . It is not entirely certain exactly where the temple stood; the building was dismantled in the early 5th century BCE. None the less, there is enough evidence to signify that it played a significant part in Athenian religious and civil life.

In my novel, old, aristocratic families are known derisively as "Bluebeards." They resent change and look upon anyone outside of their elite group as upstarts. The "Bluebeards" especially resent younger, richer and more powerful families, namely the Peisistratid, the Alcmaeonid, and the Kiomoneioi. These three families will prove to be both beneficial and detrimental to the people of Athens during the early 5th century BCE, even after the tyranny of the Peisistratid is toppled. Beneficial because they create new laws and freedoms for the average citizens of Attica, detrimental because many in these families consider democracy temporary and no more than a means to an end. It will be up to Themistocles to ensure that Athens' fledgling democracy is not crushed under the boot of a new tyranny. It will prove to be a difficult battle, one Themistocles must win before the mighty Persian empire reaches the gates of the city...

New Page Design & More.

2010-06-17T09:37:00.001-07:00

As you can see, I decided to upgrade my blog.

The truth is it didn't look all that exciting and I felt it needed to be refreshed. I admit I'm not thrilled with the color of the font, but otherwise I'm pretty happy with the new layout (I chose the ocean because of course it makes me think of Themistocles' and his fleet of triremes).

Now that I've changed the look of my blog, I have a question for you:

What can I do to make the blog more interesting?

What questions do you have about Themistocles or the time he lived in? What do you want to know about Triremes, Archaic Athens or any other related topic? I can't really post about Classical Athens because in Themistocles' time many of the things and people you associate with it (the Parthenon, Aristotle, Socrates, etc.) don't exist yet. Thus it makes Archaic Athens a tricky time to write about, but the upside is that not many people have touched upon it. And there's still lots of things to cover. Here's a quick list of potential topics (and things that incidentally appear in my novel):

1) Marathon. Not just the battle but the actual area and why it was so important.

2) Rhamnous. The fort north of Marathon functioned both as a small port and as a fortress (it's also home to the temples of Nemesis and Themis).

3) The Archaic Acropolis. Before the Parthenon there were smaller more ancient temples with an interesting mix of gods and heroes worshipped there.

4) Athenian Class System. Before Cleisthenes' reforms there were form distinct classes of Athenians created by Solon.

5) Ancient Agora. Before Cimon planted trees there and it was surrounded by stoas and philosophers the Agora was a different place.

6) The Demes of Attica. Attica was divided up into different districts; even Athens had its own demes. Who lived where and why might be an interesting topic (as well as what each deme thought of its neighbors).

7) Powerful Families. Before democracy took hold of Athens, it was ruled by various kings, oligarchies, and even tyrants. By Themistocles' time there was a small handful of families who wielded power: the Peistratid family, the Alcmaeonid family and the Kimoneioi family.

8) The Laws of Athens. From Draco to Solon and even Cleisthenes the laws in Athens frequently changed in an effort to make things more equal for the common citizen.

9) Women in Archaic Times. How they differed from their Classical counterparts.

10) Foreigners and Slaves. What rights they had (or rather didn't have) and how they were perceived.

If you read this blog please feel free to suggest what you'd like to see on it in the future. I'd love to hear from you!

Aeschylus, Themistocles & The Persians

2010-06-11T12:58:00.000-07:00

In 472 BCE, the Athenian playwright Aeschylus wrote his earliest surviving play, The Persians. It was produced eight years after the Battle of Salamis and is considered a valentine to the heroes who fought in that epic naval encounter. The Persians is the first reference history has to the battle, and it may also be the first reference to Themistocles and his cleverness.

In the play, a Persian messenger relays the disastrous events of Salamis to the royal court in Susa. When Queen Atossa (King Xerxes' mother) asks how the battle started, the messenger's answer is rather odd: "A Hellene from the Athenian army came and told your son Xerxes this tale: that once the shades of night set in, the Hellenes would not stay, but leap on board and by whatever secret route offered escape, row for their lives." This incident is also mentioned in Book 8 of Herodotus' Histories, and is tied to Themistocles: "Themistocles...sent a man by boat to the camp of the Medes (Persians) with precise instructions as to what he should say." The man was identified as Themistocles' servant Siccinus, who told the Persian king that "…The Hellenes are utterly terrified and are planning to flee, and that you now have the opportunity to perform the most glorious of all feats if you do not stand by and watch them escape." Predictably, Xerxes ordered his admirals to surround Salamis with their ships, forcing a showdown between the two sides the next morning. The Greeks, thanks to Themistocles' knowledge of the windy and narrow straight between Salamis and Attica, soundly defeated the Persian fleet. It is this amazing victory that Aeschylus pays tribute to.

Oddly enough, the play was produced around the time Themistocles was ostracized from Athens. You would think that a play praising the Battle of Salamis would make people a little more grateful for his services, but instead they not only ostracized Themistocles, they even put a bounty on his head for supposedly working with a Persian agent! Thus the Hero of Salamis was forced to flee for his life, first west and then east, until he finally ended up in Persian territory where he eventually died. It is a strange end to one of Athens' greatest men.

None the less, his legacy lives on in various sources, including The Persians. It's even tempting to think that Aeschylus may have written the play as a reminder of Themistocles' tactical genius, perhaps in the hope that the people would vote not to ostracize the man responsible for winning Athens its freedom...

Themistocles & The Trireme

2010-06-02T14:13:00.000-07:00

In this scene, a young Themistocles has wandered away from his family and makes his way to the harbor of Pherelon, where he meets Mnesiphilus and Dionysus of Phocea, men who will have a huge impact on him later in the story. Themistocles has just boarded Dionysus' trireme The Siren and is allowed to tour the ship. This particular section is crucial because it introduces both Themistocles and the reader to the vastly important trireme, the war vessel that would be the deciding factor in the Battle of Salamis in 480 BCE. Enjoy!

I wandered the deck from one end to the other, inspecting everything I saw. I sat on the captain's chair, inspected each spoke of the steering wheel, attempted to row the large pair of oars alongside it (they were too big and kept going in different directions), puzzled over the two strange platforms attached to the sides of the ship and marveled at the bronze ram and it's three tiered edges. I made my way down beneath the deck, wrinkling my nose as the pungent smell of pine grew heavy in the air. Early morning light streamed in through the open spaces near the rowers' benches, allowing me to take note of a large pile of stones sitting on the ship's bottom and a series of taunt ropes that stretched from one end of the haul to the other. I poked around the area where the rowing oars and lattices were kept and made a note of everything I liked, as well as things that I felt could be improved. Satisfied I had seen all there was to see, I made my way back onto the deck.

When I returned the men were by the captain's chair in serious discussion. Mnes said something I did not catch, and the Phocean snorted contemptuously. “No offense to you Citizen, but this land of yours is nothing but rocks, cliffs, goats, grapes and figs. There is no gold and little silver. There is no abundance of mullosks for casting dye, no exotic animals or flowers or spices, and no room for palaces and parks. No, I wouldn’t worry about the Medes coming here. It is said the Great King casts his eye north towards Scythia, where the threat to his kingdom’s border is very real.”

“My inspection is finished,” I interrupted, walking over to them. Dionysius chuckled down at me and patted the wooden chair next to him. “Have a seat, Themistocles, and tell us what you think of my ship. Does she meet with your approval?” I scooted onto the solid pine, my feet dangling a good way above the deck. I was a bit nervous. I did not want to insult the captain, but…finally, I took a deep breath and began my report.

“I think I like it. But I noticed it has some things that are wrong with it.” The captain raised an eyebrow. “Wrong?” I ticked off the numerous errors with my fingers. “Well, I saw the oars were of different size. So are the windows. And the ship’s cheeks are all puffy and the eyes look mean. The mast is missing too.” That bothered me; how was I to escape the Sirens’ call if I had no way to be tied to the ship? “Oh. And there are ropes and rocks on the bottom. That's silly. And I don’t like the smell. It smells like a pine tree. I want my ship to smell like the sea.” Dionysius began to laugh but I was not finished. “ And the ram looks strange. It has three beaks, like a funny goose. And those two big oars near the wheel don’t need to be there. And why is this chair at the back and not the front?” “Sharp as a Scythian razor, this one is!” the captain chortled and bent down to ruffle my hair. Mnes merely frowned. “You don’t miss much, do you Themistocles?” “The trireme is broken,” I insisted. Dionysius shook his head. “Actually, the ship is in perfect condition, Navarch. All those things are supposed to be the way they are." He gestured around the ship as he explained.

"You see, the two big oars are to help steer, and the captain’s chair allows allows you to see the whole length of the ship and what the men are doing. You have to keep an eye on them.” That was true; Odysseus had very much to restrain his own men. “ The ram has three levels in order to do the most damage to another ship by cutting through its hull, and it helps the prow slice through the waves so water doesn’t get inside the ship. The port holes and oars are different sizes because the ship is not the same size and length from stem to stern nor are the rowers on the same level. See how it narrows at the ends? The oars must be longer there to reach the water. ” “Oh.” “The ship is very light—you need only a hundred or so men to carry it up and down the shore, but it is vulnerable in a storm, so the ropes are there to hold the ship together nice and tight. Otherwise the waves will break it apart." "Like Odysseus' ship when Poseidon sent a big storm," I concluded. "Exactly. Now, the eyes are important because they look for safe passage upon the waves, and in war they are meant to frighten the enemy. The cheeks are actually the outer part of the trireme where the men on top row. As for the mast and sails, they are onshore getting repairs. We were hit by a sudden storm not long ago. But know this, Navarch: in battle we leave them on the beach because a mast and sail are useless in a fight unless you plan to run away. Only cowards take their main sail into a battle.” I nodded. That made sense. “As for the smell, that is pine pitch. It helps keep water and ship worms out." I blinked. "Worms?" "Strange to hear I know. Yet it's true. Worms can eat through the wood and cause terrible damage to the ship. At any rate Navarch, take care of her and The Siren will serve for years to come.” I was pleased to hear it.

“I want to buy your ship. I have ten obols. You can have eight." The adults hooted at that. I scowled, sensing they were mocking me. "A trireme costs far more than that, I'm afraid," Dionysius told me between laughs. "Besides, you still need to become navarch. You are not quite in command yet." "How can I become a Navarch then?” Mnes answered that one.

"You must become a great military man and a great man of the polis. A man of many good words and a knack for leadership.” “And anyone can do this?” “It depends on your status as a citizen, Themistocles,” Mnes said slowly, eyeing my hair. “Do you know your class?” “My class? “Is your father a knight? A noble? Can you name your tribe?” “The Leontid.” Mnes brightened. “Ah. Well then. It’s possible you can become a great man. The Leontid are an ancient tribe as I recall, if no longer powerful. Even if money is a problem a good marriage can solve that. By the way, how old are you now, Themistocles?” “Seven.” “Then you are just starting your education?” “I know how to spell my name.” Indeed I did—just the other day I had scratched out the name Exekias on a vase and wrote my own. For reasons I did not understand my step-mother had been furious. Mnes tapped a finger against his lips, peering at me carefully. Finally he nodded. “Would you like to learn how to be a good speaker? So that one day you can lead men and maybe one day be a Navarch?” “And have my own ship?” “If you wish.” "And I can start learning now?" Mnes laughed. "Well, first you need to ask your father for permission. I dare say that will take some persuasion as sophists are not always a popular group." "But you could convince him, right?"

"That is the nature of what I do. To speak wise words and convince men to listen to them. Come along, then. You shall have your first lesson of the day: how to open up men's minds when they are closed."

*This is actually an older draft of this particular chapter. It has since been re-edited.

Where did Themistocles go?

2010-05-19T09:40:00.000-07:00

My apologies for neglecting my blog. I'm busy with work, outside projects and playing an addictive video game called Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility (don't ask). But don't worry! I've also been gearing up to share another part of my Themistocles novel with you. In it a young Themis is introduced to the trireme, the warship that will help him win the Battle of Salamis in 480 BCE. Stay tuned!

I did it!

2010-05-05T14:38:00.001-07:00

No, I haven't finished editing my Themistocles novel (although it's starting to come together a little better). I did however reach my goal of owning over 100 books about Ancient Greece and Persia!

I plan to revise my book list from 2007 (which hovered around 50) and also do a top ten of my favorite titles. Some of my favorite purchases in the past 3 years include The First Fossil Hunters: Paleontology in Greek and Roman Times, The Role of the Physical Environment in Ancient Greek Seafaring, The Colors of Clay and The Ancient Mariners. Look for more soon!

Mark Noce Interview

2010-04-27T12:53:00.000-07:00

My next interview is with Mark Noce, whom I met at the San Francisco Writer's Conference this past February. We were both standing in line waiting to see agents when we struck up a conversation about....history! Mark is a big Civil War fan and has finished his first novel The Long Defeat. I was lucky enough to get a sneak peak at it and I have to say it's amazingly written. That's why I decided he would be the next person to be interviewed for my blog.

Please be sure to visit Mark's blog and take a look at his writing. It's fantastic!

1) Who are you (Intro)

I’m Mark Noce. I work as a Technical Writer at Google by day and as a novelist by night. I write mostly historical fiction, although I do write in other genres for fun, and I currently have several literary agents interested in a novel I’ve written set during the American Civil War entitled The Long Defeat. To learn more, checkout my blog here.

2) Tell us about your book THE LONG DEFEAT.

At the height of the American Civil War, the destinies of two men are set on a collision course when they and their comrades meet under a flag of truce, only to later find themselves facing one another again on opposing sides of the battlefield. The Long Defeat chronicles the personal stories of a Northern soldier, William S. Book, and a Southern Confederate, Nathaniel Saxon. William S. Book of Boston embodies the Northern man of industry and progressiveness; Nathaniel Saxon of New Orleans represents the Southern soldier of culture and tradition. The novel revolves around these two diametrically opposed protagonists and several of their fellow comrades-in-arms who convey their thoughts and fears in letters written to mothers, wives, and other women back home. Each chapter is written in a third-person objective style and concludes with a letter written by one of the primary characters in the novel. Written from epistolary perspectives, these men describe hard marches, severe hunger, brutal battles, even more brutal hospitals, prisoner exchanges, and even death. In addition to this novel being a historical fiction, I have also gone to great lengths to ensure the authenticity and historical accuracy of the campaigns and armies portrayed in The Long Defeat. For those of you who haven’t had a chance yet to read an excerpt of my book, just give me a ping and I’ll email you a copy.

3) How did you come up with the title of your book?

Oddly enough, my title has a The Lord of the Rings origin. I’ve always liked Tolkien’s concept of “the long defeat” whereby even those supposedly victorious in a struggle still end up ultimately defeated by the destructiveness of war and conflict. In the end, I really like the title because it gives a sense of how in war, in a civil war in particular, both sides are defeated. I also found numerous references throughout Civil War regimental journals of soldiers who spoke vividly on this recurring theme of defeat even in the midst of victory.

4) What is it about the Civil War that fascinates you?

I’ve been a big civil war buff since childhood. As the saying goes, when the civil war bug bites you at that young an age…its terminal. I’ve been to the battlefields, watched movies, and read books on the subject for as long as I can remember. I think what really hooked me was how personal the Civil War comes across even after almost 150 years. People went to war with their brothers, cousins, friends, and neighbors together, in the same regiments. In the border states, sometimes against their own family and neighbors. It was before the mechanized age, before planes and nukes, so the men had to face each other down rifle barrels paced only a few hundred yards apart. You saw the man shooting at you and the man you tried to shoot back. Well, sometimes anyway. Even the causes for the war were very personal. You went because your own farms and fields would soon be invaded by opposing armies, because your livelihood did or didn’t depend upon slaves, because you didn’t want others to call you a coward. It was a very emotional conflict and I think that still resonates in American society to this day.

5) Have you visited any of the places that appear in your book?

Just about all of them. I’ve spent time in Boston, New Orleans, Washington D.C., and battlefields across Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. I like to revisit places in different season too, in order to get a different feel for a place. My first trip to Gettysburg as a kid is probably one of my most memorable, and many of the places I visited then eventually featured in my novel years later.

6) Who is your favorite historical figure during this period?

My interest is usually in the unsung, social history of every day people. My main character, William S. Book, is actually inspired by the real life story of a Massachusetts man named Benjamin F. Cook, from Gloucester who served with the 12th Massachusetts and later wrote a regimental history describing his experiences. But I suppose if I had to pick someone famous from the era, I’d say probably generals like Grant and Chamberlain from the North and Lee and Jackson from the South, simply because their actions and decisions had such widespread effects upon not only the men at the front, but people’s perception of the war back home.

7) What is your favorite Civil War book/movie/game?

Best civil war book is tough, for me it’s a three-way tie between The Red Badge of Courage, Gods and Generals, and of course, The Killer Angels. For movies, I certainly like Gettysburg, Glory, and Cold Mountain. As far as games go, I’m not sure, but I am an active civil war reenactor, so if living history counts as a game, then reenacting is where it’s at.

8) What other moments in history are you interested in writing about?

Tons! The American colonial period, Slavery and Piracy in the Caribbean, Italian Renaissance, French Resistance during WWII, ancient Polynesia, the Viking age, Medieval Japan, Celtic cultures in Wales and Ireland, Upper and Lower Egypt, and aboriginal Australia just to name a few.

9) Any WIPs you can tell us about?

I’m blogging chapters about an online Sci Fi story for fun right now. With regards to historical fiction, however, I’m looking into more American topics at the moment, probably either frontier life in the 1700s or maybe even more maritime activities set earlier. It just depends where my imagination takes me!

10) Anything you'd like to mention to all the readers out there?

If you’d like to learn more or would like to share your own writing/reading endeavors with me just give me a ping. I always like to meet new people and hear their thoughts. You can usually find me at my blog here. I like to include input from my followers into my writing and also sometimes conduct fun contests online too. Just drop on by. Thanks for reading!

Did the Greeks just lose their freedom again?

2010-04-26T14:44:00.000-07:00

I was thinking about returning to Greece this year, but it looks like that's not going to happen. Greece is a real mess. And it just got worse:

Does Greece Have a Tea Party?

I hope no violence erupts from this, and I also hope that Greece cleans up its act quickly so the people can get back what is rightfully theirs. For them to lose part of their sovereignty is sad. After all, Greece is the country that inspired us to believe in sovereignty in the first place.

Gary Corby Interview

2010-04-13T10:22:00.000-07:00

Welcome Gentle Readers to my next author interview. My second victim--er, interviewee, is the talented Mr. Gary Corby!

Like Scott Oden and yours truly, Gary loves Ancient Greece. His novel THE PERICLES COMMISION is due out in October 2010, and I encourage everyone to pre-order it on Amazon or B&N. Now on to the show!

1 ) Who are you?

I'm a writer of historical mysteries. But I didn't start that way. I began with a degree in pure mathematics and worked as a software developer for twenty years, the final fourteen at a small software shop called Microsoft. I watched software development change from being a fun cottage industry to a boring big business, just like every other boring big business. So I decided I'd try my hand in a completely different cottage industry: writing novels. Having 6,000 books in the house and a deep love of history probably helped with that decision. I began writing what became The Pericles Commission. In the meantime I won the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Prize for historical mystery for a short story called THE PASION CONTRACT. Then the book sold to St Martin's Press, and here I am, an author.

2) Tell us a little bit about your novel, THE PERICLES COMMISSION.

THE PERICLES COMMISSION is the first of a series starring Nicolaos, the elder brother of Socrates. Nicolaos walks the mean streets of Ancient Athens, keeping the city safe from enemies both domestic and foreign. It's not only a series of fun murder mysteries, but also an easy introduction to the moment when Athens founded western civilisation. Thus I get to combine three of the things I enjoy most: writing humour, solving puzzles, and ancient history.

3) What fascinates you the most about Ancient Greece? How did you first get interested in the subject?

I've read ancient history for fun since I was a teenager. I'd read Herodotus, Thucydides, Tacitus, Caesar et al. well before I was 18, and I have an excellent memory (he says modestly).

Ancient Greece particularly attracted me because it was such an exciting time. The founding of modern civilization can hardly be anything other than fascinating. At the opening of The Pericles Commission it is 461BC. In that year: The world's first democracy was founded. A sovereign state with one man one vote, free speech for every citizen, written laws and equality before the law, with open courts and trial by jury. Sounds very modern, doesn't it? Drama was being invented. Aeschylus was writing his plays; two young men called Sophocles and Euripides were beginning to write their own. Anaxagoras was developing a theory of matter in which everything is made of infinitesimal particles. It was the beginning of atomic theory! Herodotus was traveling the world, writing his book and in the process founding both history and anthropology. A young kid called Socrates was outside somewhere, playing in the street. And on the island of Kos, a baby called Hippocrates was born to a doctor and his wife. My hero Nicolaos and heroine Diotima begin their career right at the start of the 50 golden years of Athens. If they survive, they'll live to see the founding of western civilization.

4) Your novel has a murder mystery slant to it. Are you interested in that genre?

Oh yes! If I weren't writing historical mysteries I'd be writing SF, the type in which the heroes have to solve some puzzle. Puzzle stories of any sort I love, and I think for most people, wanting to know the solution to a puzzle moves along in the plot.

5) The cover of your novel is great! Who did that and how did you find them?

The series was bought by a major publishing house: St Martin's Press, which is part of Macmillan. My good friends at St Martin's do all the outside bits of the book (the art director is David Rotstein). I'm responsible for the words on the inside. That's how a standard publishing contract works. (Those of you writing a book take note...there's no point thinking about covers because your publisher will handle that.) So weird as this may sound, I don't know who created that cover! I've asked for the name of the artist so I can write him or her a nice thank you note.

6) Speaking of Ancient Greece, who is your favorite historical figure from that period?

There are too many to choose from! Some of them very eccentric characters indeed. I'll mention Callias, who was the richest man in Athens, owned a rent-a-slave business and a silver mine, fought at the Battle of Marathon in the robes of a priest, and was a diplomat par excellence. He was an outspoken democrat. He fell madly in love with the sister of Kimon and married for love, unusual in those days. In an age when girl-children were property, he asked his daughters who they wanted to marry and then bought their husbands of choice with massive dowries. In many ways an amazingly modern man, if you don't count the rent-a-slave business. I use him as a minor character in the first two books.

7) What's your favorite book/movie/game on Ancient Greece?

Favourite movie is the old Jason and the Argonauts with the fighting skeletons done using stop motion photography. It's far better than any recent Hollywood movie. I don't generally play computer games. There's a boardgame called Attika which is interesting. I've always thought it would be fun to create my own boardgame of strategy based on the struggle of the Greek city states. I doubt I'll ever find the time though. Favourite book series must be Mary Renault's tales of Ancient Greece. Highly recommended.

8) Besides Ancient Greece, what time in history do you enjoy reading/writing about?

I read across pretty much every period. I know European history in general fairly well, and particularly military history and the history of science. After Ancient Greece my next best is World War 2.

9) Any future WIP you can talk about?

The first book deals with the beginning of democracy. The second book in the series visits a friend of yours: Themistocles, at the time he's in exile in Magnesia. I called the working title The Magnesia Sanction, but that is guaranteed to change. Apparently it reminds Americans of something I'd never heard of called milk of magnesia, which has to do with bowel movements. As soon as I heard about milk of magnesia I was tempted to go back and write in a glass of milk. The third book I'm writing now. It's set at the Olympics of 460BC, where one of the contestants is going to have an unfortunate experience. I'll note in passing the Olympics of 460 is one of only 14 to have included a donkey race.

10) When can we expect THE PERICLES COMMISSION to come out?

October 12 is the on sale date. As I write, you can pre-order it this minute from Barnes & Noble, Borders and Amazon, with other book stores coming online over the next few weeks. It's a huge kick watching your first book appear!

I'll be at the mystery fan conference Bouchercon in San Francisco in mid-October. Thereafter I'll be touring some bookstores around the US. I'd love to meet all the kind people who've been following my adventures, commenting on my blog or emailing me, so if you can make it do please come along to one of the events. I'll post the events list on my web site as they're booked.

How to look like a marble Kore.

2010-04-12T14:26:00.000-07:00

http://www.fairfield.edu/cas/ah_caryatid_photos.html

I've always loved the hairstyles of Ancient Greek women. Complex, feminine and flattering, these elaborate fashion statements have always captured my imagination. It turns out I'm not the only one who loves them!

The Caryatid Hairstyling Project at Fairfield University tested the possibility of replicating the hairstyles and braiding techniques of the marble Caryatids (maidens) from the South Porch of the Erechtheion on the Athenian Acropolis. The project was led by Dr. Katherine Schwab, associate professor of art history at Fairfield University. She chose six lovely students as her test subjects, and the results are pretty fantastic!

http://www.fairfield.edu/cas/ah_caryatid.html

For some, fashion and hair may seem a frivolous subject, but to me it's an important part of human history. Many styles start out as a point of necessity and quickly become a characteristic of an entire culture (like kohl eye-liner in Egypt).

If you're interested, then you might also want to purchase the DVD that shows you the entire process of completing the complicated hair of the lovely marble maidens of the Acropolis.

*Next author interview is coming up!

Scott Oden Interview

2010-04-05T13:41:00.001-07:00

Guess what, everyone? I have a real treat for you! All this month I will be doing a series of interviews with historical fiction authors, starting with one of my favorites...Scott Oden!

Scott is the author of several books, including Men of Bronze, Memnon and Lion of Cairo. He graciously agreed to do this interview at the last minute, and his answers are really fantastic. I appreciate the time and effort he put into each question. It just proves how awesome he is as a professional and as a person.

Please make sure to comment below and let Scott and I know what you think!

Author Interview #1: Scott Oden

1) Who are you?

I am Scott, son of Arthur, of the tribe of Oden and the deme of Somerville (to use the ancient Greek format); by trade, I am a writer of historical fiction and historical sword-and-sorcery – gritty fantasy set in the historical past. I’m also a rabid video gamer and a long-time – nigh upon thirty years – player of pen and paper role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons.

2) Your latest novel The Lion of Cairo is going through the editing process. How close are we to seeing it on bookshelves?

As I write this, The Lion of Cairo should hit the shelves in time for Christmas, 2010. I’m told it will likely come out sooner in the UK, perhaps as early as August.

3) Your current WIP Serpent of Hellas returns readers to Ancient Greece, this time the early 5th century. What is it about this time period that fascinates you?*

The 5th century BC represents the first time in Western history that we have recorded evidence for a “Greatest Generation.” The Athenians, spearheaded by Themistokles, did some amazing things, things that are often overshadowed by the Spartan sacrifice at Thermopylae. Not to lessen the example of Leonidas and his Three Hundred, but it’s my position that the allies of Sparta sacrificed far more than the Spartans did, and the Athenians sacrificed most of all. Honestly, it was expected for a Spartan to die in battle – they prepared for it from birth. But it went wholly against Athenian nature, indeed the grain of any of the Greek poleis, to abandon their beloved city to sack and ruin, to evacuate their women and children to an allied city, and then to have men of rank put aside their class distinctions and pull an oar like the common folk. THAT took courage. And that they won against impossible odds makes it even better.

4) What other time periods would you like to write about? Civil War? WWII? Ancient Rome?

I’m pretty sure I have a Musketeer novel in me, an honest look at the life of Charles de Batz-Castelmore d’Artagnan. I like time periods or personalities that haven’t received a great deal of coverage from other writers, eras with a surfeit of blood and thunder. So, maybe something about the Vandals in North Africa or the very Conan-esque rise to power of Baibars I.

5) You also have a love of all things Orcs. Any chance we’ll being seeing an Orc novel or two in the future?

Definitely. I’m working on one that should come out after the Emir of the Knife trilogy (THE LION OF CAIRO and its sequels). I don’t really have a title for it yet, but it takes the Orcs as envisaged by Tolkien and works them into the fabric of Norse myth. It’s also going to be something of a quest, but from the Orcs point-of-view.

6) What are you currently reading?

I just finished Roger Crowley’s excellent 1453: The Holy War For CONSTANTINOPLE and now I’m about to pick up The Club Dumas by Arturo Pérez-Reverte.

7) What’s your favorite historical novel? Movie? Game?

Favorite novel is Steven Pressfield’s GATES OF FIRE, followed closely by Mary Renault’s THE PRAISE SINGER. My favorite historical movie is not a movie at all, but a cable series: HBO’s ROME; as far as games go, I’ve not played a really good historical video game. I do like Mongoose Publishing’s CONAN RPG, and I tend to adapt the rules to historical settings . . . it makes an awesome engine for campaigns set during the Crusades.

8) Who is your favorite historical figure?

Memnon of Rhodes. I mean, this was the man who could have stopped Alexander the Great in his tracks, but for the xenophobia of the Persians. Had he lived earlier, during the Persian Wars, perhaps, then no doubt he would have been reckoned among the great men of history; because he lived in Alexander’s shadow, though, he is remembered as little more than a footnote.

9) If you could live in any time period, when would it be?

I have several, actually: Athens in the age of Pericles; Alexandria during the reign of Ptolemy II; Republican Rome; Cairo during the reign of Saladin; Venice at its zenith; 16th century Paris . . .

10) Anything you’d like to add to all the readers out there?

Just keep reading. And if you’re a writer, keep writing. Books are more than windows on the past . . . they’re mirrors, as well.

* Scott gets a million HP for mentioning my favorite historical character Themistoc/k/les!

My Life in Ruins Review

2010-04-01T10:45:00.001-07:00

Georgia (Nia Vardalos) is a former professor at Athens University who is forced to take a job as a tour guide. Since her passion is Ancient Greece, Georgia's itinerary always focuses on the ancient sites rather than modern ones. Unfortunately, one summer she gets stuck with a bunch of particularly clueless tourists more interested in cheap souvenirs and partying than the ancient ruins of Greece. Her attempts to educate them are futile until one tourist (played by Richard Dreyfus) suggests she make learning more "fun." Once Georgia loosens up a bit the tour becomes much more interesting and it ends with big smiles and dancing.

Truth be told this movie isn't very good. The jokes fall flat and although I appreciated Georgia's attempts to educate the masses, I'm not really sure they fully appreciated what they were seeing (Delphi seemed to be the only real exception). I also wasn't sure I liked the end message that it's better to skip the sites and go to the beach. Why Georgia didn't try to convince the group that history is pretty cool instead of tossing her itinerary out the window to please them is beyond me.

There are two saving graces in this movie: one is the handsome bus driver played by Alexis Georgoulis, and the other is a collection of stunning shots. The panoramic views of Delphi, Olympia and Athens made me nostalgic. I knew exactly where the group was when they toured the Agora, loved seeing the column drums again in Olympia, and miss that powerful presence one can only feel in Delphi (glad they mentioned that in the movie). I just wish that history wasn't portrayed as unbearably boring for most of the movie. I would rather go see a temple than go to the beach, thank you very much!

At any rate, if you like romantic fluff comedies and want to see some awesome sites, check out My Life in Ruins. Or better yet, just go to Greece.

A good sign of things to come?

2010-03-30T16:08:00.001-07:00

I'm always on the lookout for anything new about Themistocles. Books, movies, TV shows, games, etc.

Well, guess what?

Today when I Googled "Themistocles" and "novel"...my blog came up first!!

Check it out!

I hope this means that more and more people are reading Ancient Musings (even if it's just to check out my God of War III review) and are taking an interest in my work.

More on my book coming soon!

God of War III Thoughts

2010-03-27T12:21:00.000-07:00

Let me start off by saying that God of War III is an impressive feat. The scale is huge, the music is epic, the graphics are amazing (with a few oddball exceptions), Kratos is as amoral (or rather as immoral) as ever, and the action is fast and furious.

God of War III doesn't change the series' winning formula so much as it tweaks it to make it an even more solid experience. Now the jump and roll commands are actually valuable. In fact, jumping and rolling were the two things that saved me in many a boss fight. I also liked the ability to utilize enemies as weapons. This added another element of strategy that kept things fresh and interesting.

If there is any weak spot in God of War III, it might belong to the story. It's pretty clear that the developers were trying to tie loose ends as fast as they could and ran out of time before they could really smooth out the details. That's not to say it's terrible. In fact some parts of the story are fantastic. It just feels a little rushed. I'm also scratching my head over the inconsistency in graphics. The character designs for this game are all over the place. Kratos looks amazing, as do Hephaestus and Hercules, but for some reason the character designs for Helios and Hermes are really lacking. The same thing goes for environments: some levels are breathtaking in scale and beauty, while others are bland and elementary looking. It's nothing too awful, but it is a bit jarring.

At any rate, despite a few issues, God of War III is a solid effort. If you had fun playing the other three GOW games, (and love Greek mythology as much as I do) there's no doubt you'll enjoy the final chapter in Kratos' story.

Themistocles Lesson #4.0 -- The Daric vs The Drachma

2010-03-23T11:03:00.000-07:00

Money in the ancient world was still relatively new when Themistocles was born. Invented by the Lydians only 100 years previous, coins were made of gold, silver, a mix of gold and silver (electrum), and so forth. As money began to replace the bartering system in Greece, city-states began minting their own coins.

Each city-state had its own unique stamp. The Athenians minted coins with owls, the Aeginetans turtles, the Argives horses, and so forth. Only the Spartans stubbornly refused to use coins; they thought money invited greed and corruption. Thus the government forced the populace into austerity by only allowing them to exchange iron bars dipped in vinegar (the vinegar was added so the bars could not be melted down and made into something more valuable). The Ancient Greeks weren't the only ones with coins however...

The Persian Daric was one of the most valuable coins in the ancient world. It was issued by King Darius in the late 6th century BCE as a way to help stabilize his empire's monetary system. Darics were made of gold and were stamped with an archer king, perhaps originally a portrait of the Darius himself.

Below is a part of my novel will probably not make the final cut since it's not crucial to the story. It is however an interesting read for those of us who love ridiculous amounts of detail. :p ...

To the left of was a stall flanked by two unsmiling guards with pale skin and strangely curved swords. Beneath the purple-dyed canopy a merchant with dusky skin and flowing robes was waiting patiently for a customer. Curious I went over. The merchant gave me an indulgent smile when I asked where he was from. “Phoenicia,” he answered in a bright, chirping accent. I didn't know where that was. "A place far to the east," he explained when I asked him.
"Are your guards from there too?"
"No, they are from Scythia, which is far to the north."
"How did you find them then?"
"That is what it means to be a merchant, young Athenian. I travel all over the world and meet many people." I frowned at his empty stall front.
“If you're a merchant, then where are your things? What do you sell?”
“Money, actually."
"How can you sell money? ” He laughed.
“Ah, a good question. You see, every country uses different coin. What you can buy with Owls in Athens you can only buy in Eretria with Squids. Here. Let me show you.”
My attention was directed to a large cedar box. Inside, a cloth cradled a variety of shiny coins, each a slightly different size and color. The merchant picked up each one as he spoke. “Here is the winged horse Pegasus, the symbol of the hero Bellerophon and the pride of Argos. And this one has a turtle, the symbol of Aegina. This coin here is stamped with the Theban Shield--”
I pointed to a small, shimmering coin, slightly separated from the others. “What’s that one?”
“Ah. The Royal Archer! You have a good eye, my young friend. I believe you Hellenes call it a Daric.”
“Why is it nicer than the others?”
“Because it is of pure gold, a symbol of the Persian empire’s wealth and prosperity.”
“Could that coin me get to Ithaca?” I had no interest in Persia or Scythia or Phoenicia or any other strange place for that matter. I only wanted to see the home of Odysseus. The merchant gave another laugh. “The Royal Archer can pay your way to Hyperbole if you like!” I didn't know where that was, but I decided it had to be much farther than Ithaca.

“I’ll take it,” I declared, putting the obals my father gave me for food on the table. I figured he wouldn't get too mad. The Phoenician's smile turned apologetic.
“Sorry, my young friend. That is not enough. You would have to exchange many, many coins for just one Daric. But why not keep these wonderful coins?” He held up one and pretended to inspect it carefully. “Ah. You see? An owl. A symbol of great wisdom. A wiseman would be wise indeed not to let his money fly away. Take your owls and keep them caged to let free for something very important.” He stacked my coins neatly and gave them back with a pat on my head. “May Fortune smile upon you.”
I sulked as I moved away, wondering if I would ever get to Ithaca...

*I apologize for the weird formatting. I tried to change some of it and I keep going in circles (?)

Reminders of Greece

2010-03-20T14:46:00.000-07:00

Currently I'm in Santa Barbara for a housewarming party/vacation. The weather's been great, and I just discovered that despite hardly ever touching a racket, I'm pretty firece at tennis!

What I really enjoy about Santa Barbara though is the beautiful mountains on one side and the ocean on the other. It reminds me of Greece, with its combination of soft sands and jagged ridges.

It's been nearly two years now since I went to Themistocles' homeland. I've thought about returning but this doesn't seem like the right time to go, especially with all the troubles they've been having there. Still, I would love to return and re-aquaint myself with the Acropolis of Athens, the powerful presence at Delphi and the majestic ruins of Olympia.

In the meantime I'll just have to make do by emersing myself in my novel. I've still got a lot of editing ahead of me, and I want to make sure the book gets done before summer.

If Ancient Greece had Facebook...

2010-03-09T10:46:00.000-08:00

The above title is inspired by this HILARIOUS post found on Susan Higgin's blog:

http://susandhigginbotham.blogspot.com/2010/03/wars-of-roses-on-facebook-part-2.html

I encourage historical authors to do something like this for their work just for fun. I know I'm going to!

Themistocles Lesson #3: Meet the brother!

2010-03-03T11:06:00.000-08:00

According to Plutarch*, Themistocles had at least one brother. Supposedly his name was Agesilaos and he was a scout sent by the Athenians to spy on the Persians.

While it's difficult to imagine that Themistocles was an only child, many ancient authors put a lot of stress on his foreign blood. It may be that any siblings he had were not actually full kin. They were either related by blood through his father, or not related at all (step-siblings).

In my novel Themistocles does indeed have a step-brother, and a wicked one to boot! Here's a small sample from my novel introducing the Bully of Phrearrhioi.

The Bully of Phrearrhioi

The morning dawned warm and fragrant, as it always did in summer. But it was not the heavy scent of thyme wafting down the slopes of Mt. Hymettus that stole me from Sleep's embrace. It was a fierce kick directed at my face.

"Wake up, foreigner! Neocles wants to leave for the festival before it gets too hot." Rubbing my temple, I shrugged off my wool blanket and sat up. "Good morning, Sir Piggy," I yawned. That earned me another kick, harder this time and better aimed. For a moment I saw stars. "I told you. Don't call me that! I'm better than you are. I'm a citizen of Athens and you're just some stupid butter-eater! So you show me some respect." "I called you Sir**," I pointed out, making sure to put the bed between us as I climbed out of it. My step-brother glared at me through small, squinty eyes half-hidden in folds of fat. I was not family to him. I was merely some Thracian's get that he had to put up with because my father had married his mother.

"I don't know why you're going. Foreigners shouldn't be allowed to attend the Panathenaea. But then, maybe your father finally decided to sell you to a slaver in the Agora!" He squealed a laugh. I addressed him levelly as I attempted to smooth out the wrinkles from my favorite tunic, a square of faded green cloth with a blue border. I wore it everywhere, even to bed. "If my Da wanted to be rid of me he would have put me in a pot and left me out on the street like all the other babies nobody wants. Your parents tried that but you were too fat to fit." Agesilaos turned pink, only making him look more the pig. "I'll beat your ugly face in!" he hollered, shaking a hammy fist at me.

"Is everything all right, young Master?" Agesilaos' paidagogos appeared in the doorway, a look of concern on his face. At 80, Xenos was thin as a reed, as blind as the Fates and as old as Chronos. Agesialos speared him with a look. "Mind your business, you old fool! And where are my things? I told you to lay out my best cloak and sandals! My mother says I must look my best today. Oh. And get something for the butter-eater to wear, too. I don't want him embarrassing me with that UGLY tunic." "Alright, Ages. I shall do so as soon as I can." "Do it now!" Sir Piggy crossed the room and gave him a vicious swat. The old man yelped and scurried away. Agesilaos laughed. I glared at his back, dreaming of the day when I could smash his ugly snout in. That that was far away, though. I was seven to his twelve, and could not hope to best him in a contest of strength. And so I endured...

* Plutarch, Moralia.

** The word "sir" may strike readers as anachronistic, but there was indeed a sort of class system in Ancient Athens. Nobles were the top tier, the knights came next, then the middle class and finally the poor. Themistocles would have been ranked as middle class, and his step-brother --through his mother's side-- from the knights or noble class.

Themistocles Lesson #2 -- What's in a name?

2010-02-27T13:43:00.000-08:00

Themistocles means "Glory of the Law." It's a fantastic name! It's also a rare one, and it makes me wonder why his father gave it to him. The answer might be found by looking at Neocles' own name.*

Neocles

Neocles means "New Man." New to what? We can only speculate, but perhaps it has something to do with the period in which he was born.

If Themistocles was born around 525 BCE, then his father (assuming he got married and had children between 20 and 30) was born around 550 BCE. It was at this time that many poor Atticans were forced into a form of indentured servitude. A family struggling on a farm could not mortgatge their property for a loan. Instead, the farmer would have to offer himself and his family as security, providing some form of labor in lieu of repayment. If he failed to meet his obligations, he and his family could be sold into slavery.

This went on for a number of years, until a noble named Solon recognized the injustice of the sytem and wrote a series of reforms known as Seisachtheia that made it illegal for indebted families to be sold into slavery. If Neocles' parents were affected by these reforms, it is possible that they wanted to name their son "New Man" to symbolize a new and better era.

Yet despite his family's hopes, Neocles would still struggle under the nobility's yoke. The higher classes barred all but the top men of Athens from holding the most prestigious offices, and ignored the lower classes in the Asssembly. Neocles probably chaffed under these invisible shackles, and may have named his son Themistocles in the belief that would one day the child would bring justice to the people.

Themistocles

Themis was the Greek goddess of divine law and justice, representing the natural order of things. She was one of Uranus and Gaia's children and is one of the few Titans venerated by the Greeks. Anyone who had Themis in their name would be expected to fight for what was right. Themstocles would do just that, but his methods were more shrewd than fair. Perhaps Neocles would have been better off naming his son Metistocles instead.

Metis was the goddess of "magical cunning", and anyone who was of "bold thought and bold action" possessed her attributes. Themistocles was nothing but cunning. He would lie, cheat, steal bribe and bully his way to the top of Athen's fiercely competative political game, using his metis to get ahead. Although this would prove to be a good thing in the long run, the Athenians did not appreciate Themistocles' daring genius and would eventually ostrasize him after he helped them win the Persian Wars.

*Of course this is all highly speculative on my part. There is no way to know the reasons why Neocles and Themistocles had such unusual names.

Meghan's first writing samples!

2010-02-25T11:49:00.000-08:00

After assurances by a few different people that I will not close any doors to publication should I show off bits and pieces of my writing online, I have decided to take the plunge and share a tiny bit of my novel with you. Enjoy!

When the world's largest empire threatens to invade his city-state, it is up to Themistocles to unite the factious people of Athens and save its fledgling democracy. To do so he will have to lie, cheat, steal, bribe and bully his way to the top of Athen's fiercly competative and fatal political game. Based on the real-life naval commander who led the Greeks to victory over the Persians 2,500 years ago, I, Themistocles recounts the life of this extraordinary man through his own words.

Prologue

They say poison makes for a good death.

Oh, not the kind that leaves you clawing at your throat like hemlock, or the kind that leaves you with that...Sardonic smile. No. A good poison should be something quick and painless. That is why Bull's Blood is perfect.

Why poison? To escape the trap my enemies have set for me. To go to a place where they cannot follow. It is my last act of defiance against them, one more clever ruse to ensure my place in the pantheon of heroes. And what better way to do so than to die a hero's death? After all, poison is what took the lives of Heracles, Achilles, and Odysseus.

Yet it would be a shame for me to leave this world without recording the events of my life. Doesn't a hero deserve to have his tale sung to eager ears? I cannot rely on the goodwill of my enemies to do so, of course. It is up to me to tell the tale. And so before I cross the river Styx, here it is, the story of Themistocles, as remembered by the hero himself.

Themistocles Lesson #2 -- What's in a name?

2010-02-21T10:00:00.001-08:00

Themistocles means "Glory of the Law." It's a fantastic name! It's also a rare one, and it makes me wonder why his father gave it to him. The answer may lie with Neocles himself.*

Neocles

Neocles means "New Man." New to what? We can only speculate, but perhaps it has something to do with the period in which he was born.

If Themistocles was born around 525 BCE, then his father (assuming he got married and had children between 20 and 30) was born around 550 BCE. It was at this time that many poor Atticans were forced into a form of indentured servitude. A family struggling on a farm could not mortgatge their property for a loan. Instead, the farmer would have to offer himself and his family as security, providing some form of labor in lieu of repayment. If he failed to meet his obligations, he and his family could be sold into slavery.

This went on for a number of years, until a noble named Solon recognized the injustice of the sytem and wrote a series of reforms known as Seisachtheia that made it illegal for indebted families to be sold into slavery. If Neocles' parents were affected by these reforms, it is possible that they wanted to name their son "New Man" to symbolize a new and better era.

Yet despite his family's high hopes, Neocles would still struggle under the nobility's yoke. The higher classes barred all but the top men of Athens from holding the most prestigious offices, and ignored the lower classes in the Asssembly. Neocles probably chaffed under these invisible shackles, and perhaps named his son Themistocles in the hopes that would one day the child might bring justice to the people.

Themistocles

Themis was the Greek goddess of divine law and justice, representing the natural order of things. She was one of Uranus and Gaia's children and is one of the few Titans venerated by the Greeks. Anyone who had Themis in their name would be expected to fight for what was right. Themstocles would do just that, but his methods for this were more shrewd than just or fair. Perhaps Neocles would have been better off naming his son Metistocles instead.

Metis was the goddess of "magical cunning", and anyone who was of "bold thought and bold action" possessed her attributes. Themistocles was nothing but cunning. He would lie, cheat, steal bribe and bully his way to the top of Athen's fiercely competative political game, using his metis to get ahead. Although this would prove to be a good thing in the long run, the Athenians did not appreciate Themistocles' daring genius and would eventually ostrasize him after he helped them win the Persian Wars.

*Of course this is all highly speculative on my part. There is no way to know the reasons why Neocles and Themistocles had such unusual names.

Themistocles Lesson #1.2 Meet the Parents!

2010-02-19T16:29:00.000-08:00

Ancient authors could not agree on where Themistocles' mother was from. Some say the wilds of Thrace. Others the cosmopolitan Halicarnassus. Still others say the western lands of Acarnania. Yet all agree she was a foreigner.

Euterpe of Halicarnassus

If Themistocles' mother was from Halicarnassus, she would have been raised in a very cultured and sophisticated city. The harbor town is located in modern day Bodrum, a charming and magical place that casts a spell on any who enter it. There, Euterpe would been caught up in the swirling tides of East and West. Oriental spices and fragrent herbs would be added to lamb and olives. The quays of the harbor would have been full crawfish and eel, a variety of fish, and even exotic sea creatures. She would have been exposed to a variety of cultures and classes. There were Persian soldiers and Phonecian sailors along the water's edge, Lydian merchants calling out their wares in the streets, and Cappadocian serving women swaying through the alleyways with water jugs and richly dyed robes for the mistresses. Euterpe would have struck Neocles as a rare gem, beautiful and irrisistable. He might have met her while on a trip to the city, or perhaps saw her gliding through the streets of Athens and vowed then and there to make her his bride.

Abrotonon of Thrace

The people of Thrace were exotic and dangerous to the Ancient Greeks. They were known for their startling red hair, fox-skinned caps and knee-high boots. They were also known to be excellent archers, able to shoot arrows from the back of a horse. Perhaps Abrotonon learned to do these things at her father's side. Or maybe she learned to weave the thick Thracian cloaks that granted protection against the icy winters. Did Neocles meet this exotic beauty while on campaign around the Black Sea? Was he enraptured by her firey hair and equally fiery temper? Or was she was servant in his household, sweet and innocent and with nobody to depend upon but him? In either case, she must have been very special.

??? of Acarnania

Acarnania is located in the mysterious wilds of Western Greece. Due to its strategic location and proximity to Italy, the cities of Acarnania were constantly entangled in wars. It is possible that this mysterious girl was a refugee, her family fleeing to Athens in the hopes of starting a new life, away from the constant battles. Neocles may have seen the fragile beauty in the countryside one day and offered her love and security, as well as a place to call home.

No matter where she was from, Themistocles' mother would have stood out. She probably spoke with a thick accent and was unfamiliar with the customs of Attica. She would have had to rely on her husband to teach her about local festivals (there were dozens) the beliefs and customs of his people and the land's history and politics.

In my story Themistocles knows very little about his mother. She dies in child birth and his father refuses to talk about her.

Themistocles Lesson #1.1 Meet the Parents!

2010-02-19T10:49:00.000-08:00

Neocles

Very little is known about Themistocles' father. We do know that his name was actually Neocles, because archaeologists have unearthed dozens of ostrica bearing his name. He was probably born sometime around 550 BCE. Plutarch states that his family was part of the Leontis tribe, but that may have been after Cleisthenes' social reforms, which took place around 508 BCE. Neocles may also have been connected to the Lycomidae, because his son would later rebuild a temple of theirs after the Persians burned it down in 480 BCE.

Neocles and his parents probably belonged to the Attican middle class, known as the zeugitai. They were rich enough to participate in battles as foot soldiers(hoplite), but not enough to be part of the knights(hippeis). Growing up, Neocles was aware that he would have little say in the Athenian assembly. Only the pentacosiomedimni (nobles) and hippeis were allowed to hold the highest offices of the land. Instead he was expected to live out his days tilling the dry, stubborn soil on his tiny farm in the deme of Phrearrioi, far south of Athens. Sometimes he would march in the phalanx against Attica's pushy neighbors Megara and Thebes. He might have even had a say in local politics. But that was all.

As part of the middle class, Neocles was expected to marry a woman in his social bracket. It would be a deal between himself and his future father-in-law, a formal arrangement with little if nothing to do with love. It is romantic to think that Neocles balked at social convention and married a foreigner from either Caria or Thrace while on campaign or in the city. But it is also possible that Themistocles' mother may have been a servant in Neocles' household. Most Greeks had at least two or three slaves, and almost all were from outside of Greece.

Whether father and son were close is not clear. Some ancient authors claim that Neocles disinherited his unruly son at a young age. Others write that Themistocles named a son after his father, suggesting a strong bond. In either case, if Neocles was alive at the time of Salamis, he was most likely very proud of his son.

In my story Neocles is a handsome but somewhat dour character. He is stubborn but not ambitious. He has no love for intrigue and politics and would rather stay on his farm than make the long journey to Athens to have his voice heard on the Pynx. Dark-haired with olive skin, he is slight of build and small in stature. He loves his son but has a hard time connecting with him; Themistocles' outgoing personality baffles him.

New Site!

2010-02-16T21:55:00.000-08:00

One of the things I learned at the conference this weekend is that it's important to have an engaging blog to keep people interested in you and your work. I've mostly used this blog as a way to sort out my thoughts and feelings about being a writer. That's going to change.

I'm shy about sharing my novel online for fear of losing rights to it. So instead I may start writing super short pieces about Ancient Greece exclusively for this blog. I'm also going to do more blogs about Themistocles himself. I'll answer questions like who is he, who are the people in his life and why he's so important.

I'm also thinking of starting a site dedicated to short stories based on historical fiction. There's virtually nothing out there for it and I think it would be a neat idea. I've brought this up before but never really knew enough people to get that started. As my network expands, I think it might be possible!

Obviously I've got a lot of plans. My blog is just the first step. Look for more exciting stuff in the future!

I Love Themistocles.

2010-02-14T14:20:00.000-08:00

I wrote a love note to Themistocles. I wanted to share it with the world. So I pitched my book to five different agents. Only two seemed mildly interested. Nobody wants to read historical fiction from a male perspective.

I'm crushed. I was told more than once the pitch was good and the story sounded interesting, but agents are there to sell books. What's hot right now is vampires and romance and over-the-top thrillers.

I don't want to write about vampires. I don't want to write romance. I don't want to write an over-the-top thriller. I want to write about Themistocles. Without Themistocles we would have no democracy. Without Themistocles Western civilization would not exist.

Here is my pitch. I hope my readers enjoy it.

When the world's largest empire threatens to invade his city-state, it is up to Themistocles to unite the factious people of Athens and save its fledgling democracy. To do so, Themistocles must lie, cheat, steal, bribe and bully his way to the top of Athen's fiercly competitive and fatal political game.
Based on the real-life naval commander who led the Greeks to victory over the Persian empire 2,500 years ago, I, Themistocles recounts the life of this extraordinary man through his own words.

Cheers to you, hero of Salamis. I love you and will fight to make your story heard.

San Francisco Writer's Conference: Day 1

2010-02-12T23:01:00.000-08:00

I am so tired I can barely stay awake.

It's strange. I've been sitting in a room all day taking notes on how to be a better writer, not running a marathon, yet I still feel completely drained. And there's two more days to go!

Day 1 has proven to be a mostly positive experience. I'm suprised how friendly and open everyone is. Not just the writers, but the authors and agents too. And I certainly got some great tips out of the seminars. Granted, some were better than others, but I suppose that's to be expected. If I have any real complaints, it's that the food is bad and the conference seems a bit disorganized. Other than that though, I'm having a blast!

Tommorow I will be meeting with a free-lance editor for a 5 minute Q&A session and will hopefully get some feedback on the start of my novel. Wish me luck!

SF Writer's Conference....Start!

2010-02-11T16:50:00.000-08:00

Tommorow is my very first writing conference...and it's right here in San Francisco! I'm excited, but also nervous. Especially about the whole "Speed Dating an Editor" thing on Sunday. I feel like its an amazing opportunity and I should bring my A game. But I've never done this before and don't want them to snub my book. I've GOT to be prepared!

At any rate, I'll update you on a day-by-day basis and let you know how things are going. Wish me luck!

And now...for something completely different!

2010-02-04T13:19:00.001-08:00

While editing my novel in the hopes of having at least part of it presentable for next week's writing conference, I've taken time out to play Dragon Age: Origins.

Like Scott Oden I love fantasy and RPG stuff and so of course I had to get my hands on a copy of this game. I got a console version of the game, which means there's MASSIVE loading time everytime I enter or exit an area, but other than that...well, read on!

Despite the sometimes eye-rolling similarities to Lord of the Rings, I'm actually enjoying this game. I chose a female humanoid as my protagonist since humans are the most well-rounded race, and made her a warrior since I tend to bulldoze my way through battles. Yuna's a good girl, polite to most but wary and suspicious of others, and since I've turned her into a tank she can cleave through enemies fairly easily in order to get to the next plot point faster. I haven't had much social interaction with side characters as of yet, but I am looking forward to seeing how my party members react to my decisions on the field.

So far the action is good, the acting is solid and the battles are well-spaced. I admit I'm overwhelmed by the depth of the features list and the amount of sidequests, but in an RPG that's a good thing. What's not a good thing is the constant tearing and flickering in the PS3 version. It strikes me as sloppy and it's distracting; at one point a character briefly disappeared right in the middle of a speech! I'm not usually one to be turned off by a few bugs and glitches, but this can be downright annoying at times. Still, as long as the story and action moves apace I'm willing to overlook it.

Sorry to geek out on all of you. Don't worry, I'll Greek out again soon (see what I did there???)

Ten movies about Ancient Greece

2010-01-28T12:18:00.000-08:00

Since I already did a list of ten video games based on Ancient Greece a few weeks ago, I thought it would be fun to follow up with a list of movies as well. Enjoy!

1) The Giant of Marathon (1960)

Starring Steeve Reeves, The Giant of Marathon is supposed to be based on the famous messenger Pheidippides/Philippides, who ran 26 miles from Marathon to Athens to announce the Greek victory over the Persians. I say supposed to, because there is NOTHING realistic about this movie. It mostly revolves around Pheidippides' love life; the Persian invasion is an after-thought. This movie is so bad it will make you want to face palm yourself. If you want a good laugh though, I recommend checking out the MST3000 commentary track for the movie on Hulu.

1) The 300 Spartans (1962)

Before Zack Snyder's 300 there was The 300 Spartans (AKA Lion of Sparta), starring Richard Egan, David Farrar and Ralph Richardson. I have to admit that I own the movie but rarely watch it since it's so dated and the script is cheesy at best. I will say that it IS far more accurate than 300, but that's not saying a whole lot. Still, it has its moments and is a good one to rent.

7) The Trojan Women (1971)

If you're familiar with the play then you know that The Trojan Women isn't exactly an upbeat story. The movie stars Katharine Hepburn and Vanessa Redgrave among others, and while it's pretty slow it also has its moments where you're engrossed in the acting. I especially like the back and forth between Vanessa and Katherine--there's a lot of tension and emotion. Another good one to rent.

2) Clash of the Titans (1981)

This is still my favorite movie about Ancient Greece. It's got everything: dated claymation, Sir Laurence Olivier as Zeus, Maggie Smith as Thetis, and the sexy Harry Hamlin as Perseus. There's adventure and love and comedy in this movie. I admit the scenes with Medusa near the end scared me as a little girl, but for the most part this is something you can watch and enjoy with the whole family. So don't just rent it---OWN it!

10) Disney's Hercules (1997)

I LOVE this movie. It's so cute and uplifting! I love how Hercules starts off as an akward teenager in the beginning and turns into a true hero by the end. Of course the movie is made brilliant by the acting of James Woods as the smarmy Hades, Danny DeVito as the hard-nosed Satyr, Susan Egan as the cocky Megara, Paul Shaffer as the hip Hermes, and Bobcat Goldthwait as the dull-witted Pain. Not everything is accurate in terms of Greek Mythology (Hera is a loving mother to Hercules!?) but there's enough references to his 12 labors and a warm happy ending (also not exactly accurate) to make up for any faults.

9) Alexander (2004)

Ugh. This movie is NOT good. The acting is bad, the script is lame and parts of it are confusing at best. Still, I DID enjoy the climactic battle between Greece and Persia, (and Raz Degan is HOT as King Darius, am I right?) I admit there aren't enough movies about Ancient Greece so I should be happy with anything that comes out about it, but here's to hoping a better version of Alexander will be released in the future.

4) Troy (2004)

I'm not going to lie: Brad Pitt is about the LAST person I'd imagine to play the legendary hero Achilles. I wince a bit whenever he's on screen. Luckily there's a huge cast of great actors to make up for that. First and foremost is Peter O'Tool as Priam. He pretty much out-acts EVERYONE in this movie. You can feel Priam's denial as the Greeks are outside his walls. You can feel his pain as he is forced to watch his son's body be dragged behind the chariot of Achilles. You sympathize when he goes to beg for his son's body. And then there's Brian Cox as the ambitious and ever-scheming Agamemnon, and Brendan Gleeson as the jilted Menelaus. And of course the talented Eric Bana is always pleasing to the eye. This movie isn't exactly accurate in terms of story, but I was impressed with the research they did for the sets and costumes.

3) 300 (2006)

This silly, over-the-top and highly entertaining movie is based on a silly, over-the-top and highly entertaining comic book by Frank Miller. 300 is named of course for the 300 Spartans who famously defended the pass at Thermopylae against the Persian invaders. I enjoy this movie not for its authenticity (there's virtually NONE) but for its special effects and silly one liners (THIS. IS. SPARTAAAAA!) If you're looking for a movie that will educate you on the battle of Thermopylae look elsewhere. If you want to be endlessly entertained however, this is the movie for you.

8) Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief (2010)

I actually listened to part of this as an audio book and I like the fusion of Greek Mythology and a gritty 21st century setting. I also like the main character Percy Jackson, who has a big heart and an old soul. I never read or watched anything Harry Potter, but I get the feeling I'll end up seeing this movie for both the interesting plot (Percy is the son of Poseidon charged with getting back Zeus' stolen lightning) and the awsome special effects.

5) Clash of the Titans (2010)

Is it me, or is Sam Worthington and his crew cut out of place in this movie? And where is Bobo? I'm not sure how I feel about the special effects in this (they look very expensive though) but I'll guess I'll have to see this to find out. Will it be as good as its 1981 predecessor? I'm going to say no, but here's to hoping...

Athens, Attica and the Megarid.

2010-01-23T13:16:00.000-08:00

Guess what, Gentle Readers? It's time for another (short) book report!

Athens, Attica and the Megarid: an Archaeological Guide is the result of intensive research on the part of Hans Rupprect Goette, who leaves no stone unturned (literally) in his detailed account of the Attican countryside.

The work is divided into seven sections: Athens and Piraeus, Sounion and the Mesogeia, Marathon and north-east Attica, the areas around the Thriasian plain, the Megarid, the islands of the Saronic Gulf, and finally the Appendices which include information on things like architecture, geography, flora and fauna. The divisions are wonderfully comprehensible, and Goette includes maps and sketches every few pages to give the reader an idea of the area he is covering.

To say the least this book is VERY detailed. It's over 350 pages of small print that's packed with information on every ancient shrine, palace, farmstead, cave, temple, fort, boundry stone, statue, monument, quarry, theatre, cemetery and wall ever built in Attica. There are fabulous details on rarely visited places like the forts at Eleutherai and Oinoe and the harbors at Lavrion and Porto Raphti. The author also takes the time to acknowledge the little things that are huge in importance: a boundry stone that seperated a coastal tritty from an inland one, an ancient quarrry road, a goatpen with architecutral furnishings for milking animals, a gaurd post in a small mountain pass. It's clear from reading this guide that Goette took on a Herculean task, but luckily for readers he manages to succeed and succeed very well.

Athens, Attica and the Megarid is not cheap. The book is $108 on Amazon. Yet such is the price for extensive research. If you are interested in the ruins of Attica, then this book is for you.

Spartacus: Blood & Sand & Bleh

2010-01-21T14:46:00.001-08:00

I poked my head out of my archeological dig on Anceient Greece long enough to watch a free episode of the new Spartacus series. Wish I hadn't.

This series has no redeeming qualities. Where Rome was over-the-top and gritty (with a solid cast of actors), this is just AWFUL. The script is terrible, the acting is flinch-inducing, the costumes are ridiculous and the green-screen is annoying. The latter worked in 300 because the movie was based on the comic book, which in and off itself is very stylized. This...this is just stupid.

I guess it's unfair of me to expect anything glamorous from the makers of Xena: Warrior Princess, but seriously...

Another Awesome Writing Contest!!

2010-01-08T11:50:00.001-08:00

Once again the talented Jason Evans is having short fiction contest, and there's still time to enter! Go here for all the details, or just to read the fantastic stories. Below is my entry (notice I snuck in a couple of references to Ancient Greece). Enjoy!

The Crow and the Raven

"A crow. How funny."

"I don’t think that was a crow."

"Do you know the story of the White Crow, Phoenix?" Robin's black eyes were small and beady and full of anger.

"There are white crows?"

"A snow-white crow was left by the god Apollo to watch over his love, Coronis. But she cheated on him. Betrayed him. He could never forgive her. Never! So you know what he did? He turned the crow black."

"What did the crow have to do with it?"

"Did you know that a flock of crows is called a murder?" She laughed hoarsely, then reached into her purse. Out came a .44. Where had she gotten that?

"Crows are the spirits of revenge," she hissed at me as she pointed the gun at my forehead. It shook in her hand, the metal softly pulsing in the sun's dying rays. I did the obligatory reach for the sky, and tried to keep my voice reasonable. Calm.

"Robin, it wasn't a crow. Really."

"It doesn't matter, does it? You'll just come back. That's what the Phoenix does, right? It rises from the ashes.”

"You’re not threatening to burn me, you're threatening to shoot me."

"It doesn’t matter. When you come back, we can start again."

An explosion followed, so violent it knocked me on my back. My sight started to fade.

It wasn't a crow, was my last thought. It was a raven.

Is Thucydides a Spin Doctor?

2010-01-04T13:57:00.000-08:00

I stumbled upon this article on Thucydides while searching for archeological news on Ancient Greece and thought it might be of interest to my readers:

Was Ancient Historian One Of The First Spin Doctors?

Normally it's Herodotus who takes a brutal beating for spinning tales and composing stories (Thucydides himself once lead the charge), but Yale professor Dr. Donald Kagan dares to suggest that the pragmatic historian may have done some spinning of his own. His book Thucydides: The Reinvention of History tries to prove this point.

I haven't read the book (though I plan to), but it made me think: is history really always written by the winners? Is there any such thing as an un-biased historian? Can history really be re-invented? Or is it simply erased, glossed over by those who don't want the truth to come out?

Paul Cartledge strikes again (a short book review).

2010-01-03T15:10:00.000-08:00

I love Paul Cartledge.

He's a brilliant professor of Greek history and has written several articles and books on the subject (Sparta especially). I often refer to these works when I'm working on my novel. So of course I was excited to learn that he has a new book out.

Ancient Greece: A History in Eleven Cities is somewhat of a beginner's guide to Ancient Greece, but still more advanced than say, Ancient Greece for Dummies. It's a good place to start for those with more than a fleeting interest in the subject.

In his latest work, Paul Cartledge attempts to condense the entire history of Ancient Greece into a few hundred pages; a herculean task if there ever was one. He starts from the beginning--literally--by introducing readers to the island culture of Cnossos around 3000 BCE, and ends with the rise and fall of Byzantion. His choice of cities may appear somewhat arbitrary at first (Massalia?), but as he explains in his introduction he actually picked each city carefully. Many of the smaller islands or lesser-known polis were home to many famous philosophers and powerful Greeks, as well locations for many historic battles.

It's a short book and will not be the most detailed thing you've ever read on Ancient Greece, but it is useful for those who want to brush up on their ancient history. Here's a list of cities covered in the book:

1) Cnossos
2) Mycenae
3) Argos
4) Miletus
5) Massalia
6) Sparta
7) Athens
8) Syracuse
9) Thebes
10) Alexandria
11) Byzantion

Happy New Year!

2009-12-31T12:58:00.000-08:00

Well, tomorrow is 2010, and just in case I don't get around to it...Happy New Year! Hopefully everyone will be responsible tonight and be careful on the road (or better yet don’t get on one if you can help it). I plan to stay at home, drink champagne, play video games, fiddle around on Facebook, and of course work on my novel. Which brings me to my New Year's resolutions:

1) Finish my Themistocles novel by February. Although I technically wrote "The End" months back, there's still a LOT of editing, adding and subtracting that needs to be done. I need to have something I can proudly show to an editor at the San Francisco Writer's Conference. Which means...

2) Write everyday. Don't just scribble notes, daydream or re-read Herodotus. I have to actually make progress in my novel.

3) Appreciate my health. I hate being or feeling sick and I felt bleh a lot at the end of this year. No more. I will take better care of myself and feel good about myself.

4) Maintain a healthy weight. This year I hit my goal weight and want to maintain it. That means sticking to diet soda (which I am convinced is key to weight loss) and eating roasted veggies instead of fries, etc. I actually prefer blackened green beans to thick fries now, and encourage anyone who doesn't like vegetables to try them well roasted with olive oil, salt and pepper. Delicious! To think I used to HATE brussel sprouts!

5) Be more social. I tend to be somewhat of a lone wolf and am looking to change that. I have a lot of friends and should appreciate them more. So it's time to party (responsibly, of course).

There you are. My five goals for 2010. Any resolutions of your own? Share below!

Vacation Vows

2009-12-23T21:27:00.000-08:00

Today was the start of my Christmas vacation, which means I have lots of free time to play video games, flip through fashion magazines, eat tons of junkfood like Oreos and candy, watch TV and play even more video games (I finally bought myself a Wii.) But most importantly, it's time to really buckle down and thread the pieces of my novel together.

It's not easy, of course. I'm still stuck in the same place I was weeks ago, and I'm still having trouble with the pacing. There is some good news though: I've managed to re-arrange a couple of chapters so that the story flows better, and I'm happy with the chapter on ships. Hopefully I'll find my Muse and really make some progress in the coming weeks!

10 games about Ancient Greece

2009-12-12T12:24:00.000-08:00

Ever since I was little I've loved Greek mythology. And I've also always loved video games. So it's no surprise that some of my earliest memories include playing titles like The Battle of Olympus and Kid Icarus. It's also no surprise that I am fanatical about the God of War series and played Rise of the Argonauts despite several people warning me not to.

Since I've been thinking about it a lot lately, I thought I would write up a list of video games that involve Ancient Hellas (Greece) in some way or another for my readers. Enjoy!

1) Kid Icarus (NES, 1987)

Almost 25 years before Kratos, there was Kid Icarus. This FRUSTRATING platformer stars a boy who must rescue the Goddess of Light from the evil Medusa. Although most of my memories involve BLOOD THIRSTY RAGE and a lot of cursing for a 9 year old, this game seems to have inspired a cult following among gamers. And there are some unmistakable references to Greek mythology. Obviously the title character is one of them and Medusa the other, but there are weapons and items that will remind you of Greece, even as you are falling off of things and cursing the whole way down...

2) Legendary Wings/Wings of Ares (NES, 1988)

This hilariously awful game is a shooter that takes place in the future but is infused with Greek mythology. It starts off like 1942 but quickly turns into Contra (that's not as cool as it sounds, btw). It's pretty laughable, but I have to admit the idea of a future involving Icarus wings and the slaying of dragons is an interesting concept. I didn't get very far in the game, and I don't think it accurately reflects Greece OR mythology, but if you really bend your brain you can kind of see some references.

3) The Battle of Olympus (NES, 1989)

Despite the odd slime, medieval knight (???) and its suspicious similarity to The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, BoO is a pretty good game for what it is. It follows the story of Orpheus, who is attempting to rescue his beloved Eurydice from Hades after she is bitten by a poisonous snake. Along the way he receives the help of the gods who give him useful items likes sandals that allow him to walk on ceilings and an ocarina that summons a dolphin. Orpheus also battles everything from a large Hyrda to Gorgons. The constant backtracking in this game is a nightmare, and the music and backgrounds are bland at best, but the game still has some merits. Maybe we'll see this one on Wii VC?

4) Altered Beast (Genesis, 1989)

This game barely touches on Greek mythology, but it does so just enough to qualify it for this list. As a Centurion (which is actually a rank in the Roman army) you are called upon by Zeus to rescue his daughter Athena from an evil sorcerer named Neff. And that's about as Greek as it gets. You see, for whatever reason the game features gothic crosses, a Nosferatu-like boss and a variety of weird enemies not found in any mythology I know of. Still, there is the occasional ruin of a Doric column and the main character wears a tunic, so there you go. Also, the underlying concept of a man who can turn into different creatures does sort of remind players of stories from mythology, like how Zeus turned into different animals while in pursuit of various women. The gameplay is messy at times and the music is silly, but no matter how many people say they don't like it everyone loves "Wise from your gwave." If you have [i]Sega Genesis Collection [/i] it's a good way to play the Altered Beast without having to actually pay too much for it.

5)Zeus: Master of Olympus (PC, 2000)

This ten year-old game got an impressive 9.1 from IGN which makes me want to find a copy so I can try it out. Here's a description right from the review: "[In the game] you need to build vineyards and wineries, olive orchards and presses, colleges and podiums, theatres and drama schools. You'll need to set up farms and fisheries to feed people, allocate pasture land to provide fleece, mine bronze, silver and marble to produce armor, coins and temples." It actually sounds really fun, and is apparently a very in-depth game with good sandbox elements. Good times.

6) God of War (PS2, 2005)

It's no secret I LOVE this game...in fact I love the whole series! It's not just because of Kratos, the Spartan who once served the God of War Ares and is now on a path of destruction that will eventually lead to another Clash of the Titans. It's because the game offers fantastic action, interesting puzzles, amazing music, awesome graphics and a solid storyline. The mythological references in God of War are actually fairly accurate for the most part(although one could nitpick about the historical aspects of the game) and the developers manage to come up with some clever ideas based on these ancient stories. If you haven't played GoW I or II, I suggest getting the new PS3 compilation in HD. It's worth it.

7) Rise of the Argonauts(PS3, 2008)

WOW, this game is awful. Period. No redeeming value what-so-ever. It's so unfinished and terrible it baffles me. The only reason I'm including it in this list is to warn people to stay away from it. I mean, I wish I could say it's accurate in terms of mythology or history---or ANYTHING, but it has too many issues. Scary issues. Like clunky gameplay, half-assed graphics and cringe-inducing voice acting. My advice? Skip it. Yes, it's about Jason and the Argonauts and that SOUNDS cool, but when I say this game is terrible, I mean it. How the developers thought this would rival God of War is beyond me. Jason deserved better; hopefully some game studio someday will due him justice.

8) Heroes of Hellas (PC, 2008)

This puzzle game is a PC download where you must help Zeus get back his stolen scepter by solving levels full of sparkling elements that need to be eliminated from a honeycombed game board. Along the way you will have help from famous heroes, earn trophies, collect wallpaper and learn about the more famous stories from Greek mythology (a pretty cool feature). Gameplay revolves around linking different tiles and jewels together to make a chain with three or more links. You can link as many elements as you want so long as they make a cohesive, unbroken chain. Heroes of Hellas is pretty addictive and if you're not willing to scoop out $9.99 for it you can at least play the demo for free and see how far you get in an hour's time.

9) 300: March to Glory (PSP, 2008)

This game got a 5.7 from IGN and I think I know why: it turns the story of the heroic 300 Spartan warriors and their stand at Thermopylae into a mess. The imposing Spartan phalanx turns into a conga line and the gameplay seems clunky, cheap and pointless. To be fair I haven't played it, but I can only imagine that Greg Miller is telling the truth when he says it's a mediocre action title. Still, if you enjoyed the movie and don't mind stealth attacks that don't really work and a game with visual flair that only appears outside of gameplay...enjoy?

10) Hero of Sparta (iPhone, 2009)

A 9/10 for an iPhone game? It happened with Hero of Sparta. Sure, it looks like a little-known title called God of War, but considering that there are no Gow games available on the iPhone (at least for now) it's forgivable. Although I have to wonder: would the Spartans really accept a king named Argos!?

Other games with Ancient Greek references in them:

Athena (NES, 1987)
Ancient Wars: Sparta (PC)
Invictus: Shadow of Olympus
Hero of Hellas 2: Olympia
Zeus -- Official Expansion: Poseidon (PC, 2001)
Glory of Heracles/Hercules no Eikou (DS, 2010)
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (Nintendo 64, 2000)
Hades Challenge (PC, 1998)
Rome: Total War -- Alexander (PC, 2006)
Gates of Troy (PC, 2004)

...and there's plenty more.

Winter is coming.

2009-11-22T15:02:00.001-08:00

...Or so the Starks are always telling us.* And it's true: even in California the temperature has dropped enough so that I am sitting in front of a warm, cozy fire as I type this. Winter is a good time to write, because the days are dark and I spend so much more time inside. This year is proving to be a bit stressful, however. I have a little over two months to make my Themistocles novel presentable to an agent/editor, and although that sounds like a lot of time, anybody who writes knows that it's getting down to the wire.

Technically I have a finished story. A story that is held together with string, paper clips, glue and scotch tape. It's just BARELY there. And over the past few months I've been struggling to make just the first THIRD decent. It's proven to be somewhat of a nightmare. The beginning of Themistocles' life coincides with a crucial period in the development of Athens. The problem is trying to shoehorn Themistocles into the picture without it seeming forced. There's also the problem of pacing. I don't want the story to drag nor do I want it to feel rushed. It's a precarious balancing act that has me writing, deleting, writing deleting and writing again. To say that I sometimes feel way over my head is an understatement.

At any rate, hopefully I'll be able to tame this monster idea before February, when the writer's conference in San Francisco takes place. Meanwhile I'm also tinkering with a shorter, more current story idea (taken from short pieces I've been writing for Jason Evans' writing contests), so if all else fails I have that (though I WON'T give up on Themistocles!!!)

I hope my readers are having luck with their work! :)

*George RR Martin

Ancient Athens on 5 Drachmas a Day

2009-11-01T21:24:00.000-08:00

As much as I love big, thick history books bursting with facts and details, it's always good to return to the basics. Which is why I enjoy Phillip Matyszak's "Ancient Athens on 5 Drachmas a Day".

Divided into IX sections, the book teaches history through the guise of a travel log. You'll read about the best way to get to Athens(thus learning about ancient roadways and destinations), where to stay (which discusses dwellings and lifestyles), what to do (a good way of introducing readers to ancient entertainment like the symposium), who to meet (which features men like Pericles and Thucydides) and what to buy (which covers everything from the local monetary system to what items can be found in the Agora). There are even maps of the city, pictures of famous people and sightseeing recommendations.

I really enjoy Matyszak approach. Instead of weighing you down with a myriad of facts all at once, he takes his cue from modern travel books and presents information in bite-size pieces. He also includes amusing stories to make sure the reader is engaged. The book is a bit stiff in price (it's nearly $20) but the upside is that it's easy to navigate and provides a few fun gems that can be mined from its pages. Here are a few fun facts right from the source:

1) The word economy comes from the word oikos nomos or "the organization of the household"

2)The famous Academy was originally a hero shrine

3) In prehistoric times the Piraeus was an island

If you are looking for a fun way to be introduced to or get re-acquainted with Ancient Athens, I highly recommend this book.

SF Writer's Conference

2009-10-09T14:25:00.000-07:00

FYI, I'll be attending the San Francisco Writers Conference February 12 - 14, 2010. I would love to meet and greet some of my favorite writers/bloggers. Anyone else going? If you want to go, sign up here: SFWC.

Memorable quotes from around the office.

2009-10-01T13:28:00.000-07:00

In order to work where I do (IGN), you must be somewhat crazy. Whether you say crazy things, participate in crazy hijinks, or play crazy games, non compos mentis is a requirement here. Which might explain why I have nearly 10 sticky notes worth of memorable (see off-color) quotes from IGN and Rotten Tomatoes co-workers stuck to my computer. I thought some of these were quite poignant, actually, as well as amusing. I also thought that some of my blog readers would appreciate these. Here are my top 5 so far:

5) "A friend is just a stranger you haven't fought yet."
4)"Whatever didn't kill me...didn't finish the job."
3) "You can't blame the devil when dumb people die."
2) "There is no narrative arc in stripping."
1) "Dude! Who just teabagged me!?"

Honorable mentions include "hope bothers me", and "D-bags have s*** for brains."

Model Pics!

2009-09-26T20:36:00.000-07:00

After weeks of waiting I finally received some of my modeling pics back. As I explained in a previous post, I wanted to celebrate my 30th birthday by doing something fun. That something was to look like a Cover Girl. I admit it has nothing to do with Ancient Greece, but at least it's fun to share. Enjoy!

A Short Book Report: Lords of the Sea

2009-09-17T20:59:00.000-07:00

It's amazing how sometimes when we really need something it just suddenly appears.

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to come across a new book on the Athenian navy. I say lucky because I've been in the process of editing my novel and needed more detail and insight into this very subject. And that is exactly what I got with John R. Hale's Lords of the Sea: The Epic Story of the Athenian Navy and the Birth of Democracy.

Hale breaks the book down into five sections: Freedom, Democracy, Empire, Catastrophe, and Rebirth. Part one focuses on the founding of the Athenian navy through the workings of (who else!) Themistocles. Hale goes into detail about how the navy was built (literally--there is some great detail to be found here), how naval tactics changed during the late Archaic period and thus made it possible for the Greeks to achieve victory over the Persian fleet, and how acquiring a navy laid the foundations for Athens' future empire.

The second part of the book (Democracy) explores Athens' Golden Age. It was at this time that the Athenian navy was at the peak of its power, bringing wealth, culture and knowledge from abroad into the city. There are some fun details here, but things really get interesting in the section called "Empire", which deals with both Athens' struggle to maintain control over its neighbors and its war(s) with Sparta. The conflict is not an easy thing to break down considering how LONG it lasted (over 30 years). Still, Hale manages to successfully convey how rapidly naval tactics and technology changed and how that affected the outcome of the conflict.

The last two sections deal with the Athenian navy's fall after being defeated by Sparta, it's brief comeback and eventual capitulation to Macedonia. It charts the events from 397 BCE to 324 BCE and covers everything from the Second Maritime League to the last battle at Amorgos. Hale does a good job summarizing the events without getting too convoluted but still feeding us relevant and interesting nuggets of information. Most readers will probably feel satisfied with his explanations.

In short, I really enjoyed this book and feel that it's an asset to anyone who is writing about or even interested in Hellenic history between the late Archaic age and the start of Alexander's great empire. It's well-paced, well-written and well-researched. And well...I like that!

Just A Quick Check-In

2009-09-03T11:03:00.000-07:00

I'm a bit stuck right now in the editing process so there hasn't been a whole lot to report. You see, I'm really struggling with the pacing of my novel and on top of that discovering errors that need to be corrected along the way. It's frustrating having to rewrite entire chapters because you realize that the scenario is jarringly inaccurate.

For example, originally I had Themistocles attend the Eleusinian Mysteries at the age of 11, but it turns that only adults were initiated. I also have to rewrite (or at least reconsider) the whole story about Harmodius and Aristogeiton. Ancient authors can't seem to agree on exactly what led to the murder of Hipparchus (the brother of Athens' tyrant Hippias), and although I tend to side with one version, I can't dismiss other authors out of hand.

At any rate my goal this holiday weekend is to get at least the first few chapters of my novel polished up and ready for an agent to look at. It will take hours of dicipline and concentration but I know I can do this. I just need my motivation back. And with the exciting announcement that Scott Oden is working on a novel in the same time period, I'd better bring my AAA game!!!

*Fun fact: If you type 21 letters of Themistocles into Google, yours truly is the top link!!

I just flew in from LA, and boy are my arms tired!

2009-08-16T15:33:00.000-07:00

If it seems like it's been all quiet on the western front, it's because I've been in L.A. all week for my 30th birthday. I wanted to celebrate this milestone by doing something really cool and fun, and what better way to feel thirty, flirty and thriving than to do a photo shoot with make-up artist to the stars Alexis Vogel?

My L.A. adventure got off to a rocky start when I got to the airport and was told that I had scheduled my flight for the next day (I decided to stay in L.A. for an extra day at the last minute but forgot to update my flight plans). Luckily the nice ladies at the ticket counter helped me get on a noon flight and I was able to get to Los Angeles with no problem. After I arrived in SoCal however I learned that the hotel I was staying at had NO air conditioning and NO room service. Worse, the room was small and the furniture ugly; not fit for a photo shoot at all. So, after a guilt-tinged and exhausting conversation with the manager I cancelled my reservation and walked my bags down the street to the uber-posh Fairmont hotel. This was not only a better place to shoot pictures but I was MUCH happier (yay for room service!)

While waiting for my room I celebrated my new environment by drinking a rum & Coke and watching koi and turtles splash around a waterfall-laced pond in the hotel's outside cafe. I then called the shoot's photographer Isaiah to thank him for helping me find a room at the Fairmont at the last possible minute. Once my room was ready I dropped my things off and wandered down to the beach to watch the sunset. After that I had dinner, ate gummy bears in the bath and fell asleep watching Entertainment Tonight and Family Guy.

Me chilling on my balcony at the Fairmont.

At around noon the next day Alexis, Isaiah and their assistant Brie came up to my room and set up camp. Camp gear included lights, camera, make-up and accessories. Figuring they would shoot me in whatever clothes I had with me I only brought one suitcase of outfits and shoes. Unfortunately that's not how it works. There was much clucking of tongue over not bringing enough clothes and jewelry and a LOT of grumbling over not having my eyebrows properly done and having too blunt of a hair cut(I rock the Egyptian look with straight bangs and long, straight hair). I admit the complaints weren't making me very happy, especially since they was repeated over and over (and over) again, but I at least got some suggestions on what kind of hair and look I should get ( indeed I will have my hair done in layers and let my bangs grow out as suggested).

On the positive side, I was told I was better looking in my natural state than some stars (a wonderful plus), I had good skin, good cheekbones and good teeth--I was even asked if they were really my teeth or caps! I've NEVER had anyone ask me that so I was flattered.

After two hours of hair and make-up I then did a lot of countoured poses (like you see in high-fashion ads) and learned that being a model--even for a day--is not easy. People are tugging at your clothes, making you hold uncomfortable poses for a long time and trying to get you to turn your face in every direction. The hard work was worth it however as the pictures are fantastic (I swear I look like I could be in a Dolce & Gabbana ad in some of these pics!)

At one point we stopped for lunch, and I learned how to eat food without ruining my make-up (a good thing to know). What I wasn't prepared for however was being stuck with both the food and the valet bill for their car(supposedly this was in the "cheat sheet" they sent me but I informed them it wasn't in MINE--and I didn't expect to pay for it either as it was VERY expensive). Obviously there was an assumption I would know the rules. I didn't, but I do now.

At any rate, the shoot went very well. We even did an extra set of photos since it was moving along at such a smooth pace and I have to say the pictures are amazing. Alexis did an wonderful job with my make-up and hair, and Isaiah took great pictures and was fun to work with. Brie was helpful and gave me a sample of lip gloss to help with touch-ups after eating (another lesson learned: just because I'm getting a make-over doesn't mean NOT to bring my own make-up).

All-in-all a fun and memorable birthday, albeit somewhat of a roller coaster ride. I can't wait to get my DVD with the photos on it so I can show them to you.

Oh, and yes. I am still working on my Themistocles novel. Being away for a week has allowed me to look at the story with fresh eyes and editing is going really well. Can't wait to start looking for an agent and hopefully putting up some tidbits for everyone to read. :D

Isagoras vs. Cleisthenes & The Birth of Athenian Democracy

2009-07-29T20:45:00.000-07:00

Currently I am struggling over how to tackle one of the more confusing and dense passages in The Histories. It's an important passage too: how Athens became the world's first democracy.

It started in 514 BCE. Two men by the names of Harmodius and Aristogeiton murdered the brother of the ruling tyrant Hippias over a lover's quarrel. This resulted in their deaths and the tyrant clamping down hard on the citizens of Athens. Taking advantage of the unstable atmosphere in the city, an exiled family by the name of Alcmaeonid attempted to overthrow the government that same year, but the coup failed. The family then decided to swell their ranks by bringing the famed Spartan warriors over to their cause. Using their connections and influence, they managed to bribe the Pythia of Delphi into convincing the Spartans to help get rid of Hippias and his family. In 510 BCE The Spartans finally sent a small contingent to help the Alcmaeonid, but this second attack on Athens also ended in a route. Angry at the humiliation, the Spartan king Cleomenes personally led an army into Attica (possibly around 508 BCE?), crushing the Athenian tyrant's forces and chasing out his allies. This left the Athenians free to choose a new leader for their polis.

There were two eligible candidates for a new tyrant: Isagoras, a distinguished Athenian noble, and Cleisthenes, grandson to a tyrant himself (the tyrant of Sicyon) and the possible architect behind the bribing of the Pythia. Perhaps not trusting the Alcmaeonid's ambitions, the people favored Isagoras as their new leader in the upcoming election. Realizing he would lose the vote if he didn't do something fast, the clever Cleisthenes decided to defuse people's suspicions by offering them unprecedented freedoms (as well as stressing the role of rotating leadership positions to ensure one man did not have all the power). This proved to be so popular that Cleisthenes won by a landslide, thus resulting in the world's first real democracy.

Furious at having lost, Isagoras went to Sparta and demanded Cleoemenes get rid of this new democracy and its too clever leader. Recognizing a possible danger to his kingship (what if the helots or non-Spartiates wanted rights of their own?) Cleomenes lead a small army of about 300 Spartans back to Athens and kicked Cleisthenes out on the flimsy pretext of a family curse. He then installed Isagoras and his allies as leaders of the city's new government. The people refused to accept this. They besieged the Spartans and Isagoras on the Acropolis until Cleomenes was forced to admit defeat and march home, taking Isagoras with him. The Alcmaeonid returned to the city and all seemed well... until a vengeful Cleomenes showed up for a third time in Attica, along with the entire Peloponnesian League! The new democracy might have ended right then and there, but luckily the Corinthians had doubts about Cleomenes' intentions and decided to return home. Cleomenes' co-king Demaratus also had doubts about the Agiad king's intentions and left with his half of the army. Alone and humiliated yet again, Cleomenes was forced to disband the rest of the army and returned to Sparta to plot revenge (this time on his unlucky co-king). Sparta would not march into Attica again until well into the next century.

Themistocles is around seven in 514 BCE (or at least in my novel) and about fifteen by the time Cleomenes is thwarted for the third and final time (remember he didn't march to Attica in the first attack). Clearly this is a crucial period in Themis' life. The problem is how to pace these events. How much does Themistocles personally witness? How much does he contribute? I have some ideas, but putting them in order has proven to be daunting. I had a couple of inspirations last night, but I'm still struggling a bit. Any suggestions on how I can achieve more inspirations?

Quick Update

2009-07-21T13:50:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to drop in real fast and comment that the editing process is actually tons of fun. I feel better about how the novel is coming together and am excited to show off the first few chapters to friends, family and hopefully....an agent! Wish me luck. (^_^)

TRIUMPH!!!

2009-07-04T17:01:00.000-07:00

At exactly 5:00 PM on July 4, 2009 I saved my my novel I, Themistokles in its first complete form on my computer after spending weeks typing up 5 notebooks worth of writing. I can now finally begin the process of editing my novel.

WHOO-HOO!!!

*It should be noted that I also have it saved on 2 USB drives so that (hopefully!) I never have to worry about losing it.

Notebook 5 FINALLY complete!

2009-06-30T23:05:00.000-07:00

YAY! The final notebook containing my Themistocles novel has been typed up! That one was the hardest to get through as there was so much of it. I'm feeling really good about getting that out of the way.

Unfortunately it doesn't look like I'll be able to recover the 38,000 words of my novel from my first USB drive that I lost (I have the rest of the novel saved on two new USB drives and my hard drive). I'm hoping to re-type it by this weekend. I also need to type up a bunch of loose-leaf notes I have scattered all over the place. Once I do all this I can FINALLY get down to the business of editing it and shaping it into something like a real book!

New Acropolis Museum

2009-06-29T15:55:00.001-07:00

Judith Weingarten has a Youtube video tour of the New Acropolis Museum in Athens up on her site. Since I enjoyed it so much I thought I'd link it here as well:

New Acropolis Museum

I'm hoping to see it myself one day and really enjoyed a close-up look at some of the priceless artifacts. I also thought the news that an entire neighborhood was excavated during the building of the museum was super interesting. Hopefully it will shed even more light on the Ancient Greeks!

Drudge work...so...boring...

2009-06-18T15:26:00.001-07:00

UUUUUUUUUuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuughhhhhhhhhhhhhhHHHHHHHHHH.

This whole typing up my novel thing is sooooo tedious! I'm on my last notebook but this is taking foreeeveeeer........I just wanna finish so I can edit my story and give it to an agent. ::Bangs head on desk::: Why can't I type faster???

More Progress!

2009-06-06T21:34:00.000-07:00

Notebooks 3 and 4 are now complete! Just one more left before I can start editing my novel and looking for an agent!

Go Themistocles!

Notebook 2 Complete!

2009-05-23T23:35:00.000-07:00

Despite a mix-up that may have resulted in a few pages gone missing, notebook 2 has now been typed out! I'm excited because I think notebook 3 is relatively short which will put me at the halfway point of finishing all the drudge work!

After that I have to edit the darn thing (yikes) but that will enable me to put together something I can hand over to an editor/agent. I'm that much closer to finishing my novel for real! Yay!

Etymology Fun!

2009-05-18T11:37:00.000-07:00

I love knowing the origins of certain words and expressions. To me, it connects us to our past; to a people, time and place that are now beyond our reach.

Many of our modern day expressions come from very old sources, specifically from Ancient Greece and Rome.

Here are some of my favorites that I found around the Internet.

ETYMOLOGY OF...

Abacus : "Comes from the Greek word abax, which means 'sand tray'. Originally, columns of pebbles were laid out on the sand for purposes of counting."

Allegory:

"From Greek allos meaning 'other' and agora meaning 'gathering place'. Some of the topics discussed in the agora were clandestine and when people spoke about them they would speak indirectly. That is to say, they would speak about one thing in such a way as to intimate the actual information to the listener."

Barbarian:
"From the Greek "barbaroi, meaning 'babblers,'; from the sound that the Greeks thought they were making: 'bar bar bar bar...'"

Chaos and Chasm
"From the Greek 'chainein,' meaning, 'to yawn'; chaos was thus the 'original yawning abyss' outside of the ordered universe we know."

Museum, Mosaic
"Both from the Greek Muse (museum is Latin for 'Place inhabited by the Muses'; mosaic is from the Greek mouseios, 'related to the Muses'"

Nemesis
"From the Greek of the same, originally meant, 'the act of distributing or apportioning' and later became, '(divine) wrath and retribution, righteous indignation at the breach of rules.' Nemesis was a deity who restores a balance. Were a bunch of shipmakers to launch a vessel without saluting the gods, for instance, this act of hubris might call forth a counter-reaction, as we saw with the Titanic. There was no judgmentalism or divine punishment involved, simply a response from the other world to lapses occurring in this one."

Planet:
"From the Greek 'Planasthai' for 'to wander.'"

Risk: "Originally a nautical expression. The Latin word meant 'cliff', which came from an ancient Greek word for 'root'. The term is cited in Homer's Odyssey, when Odysseus saves himself from Charybdee at the cliffs of Scylla by grabbing the roots of a wild fig tree."

Sardonic smile/laugh: "Another term first used in The Odyssey ('Odysseus smiled in his anger a very sardonic smile'), it refers to bitter or mocking laughter. On the island of Sardinia condemned criminals were forced to ingest a plant that caused their facial muscles to spaz and perhaps wheez due to the toxic effects on their respatory system. This ritual was known through out the ancient world."

Sycophant:
"From the Greek 'sykon,' meaning 'fig'; a sycophant was thus originally someone who makes figs appear. There are a few suggested etymologies: fig smuggling was illegal in ancient Greece, so a sycophant could have been a telltale for a reward; or, it could be from the shaking of a fig-tree, which moved the figs from the hidden heights to the ground where all could see it; or, it could be from 'the sign of the fig,' which is the gesture of making a fist with the thumb in-between the index and middle fingers, which represented female genitalia;--this gesture was used to indicate an accusation of wrong-doing."

Utopia :
"Greek for 'no where.'"

Must Stay Focused!

2009-05-11T09:15:00.000-07:00

Even with 35,000 words possibly lost forever in the Twighlight Zone, I'm still upbeat about my novel. I've finished typing up my first notebook and have already started on the second.

Meanwhile, I've signed up for voice acting classes (something I've always wanted to do), and will soon start seeing a private tutor to brush up on my Japanese. The problem these latter two events may interfear with my writing. I can't let that happen. I'm soooo close now! All I have to do is finish typing up my 5 notebooks and then edit my work before hoping and praying some agent/editor wants to take things to the next level.

Help! How can I do other things that I love while staying true to my passion?

Gone.

2009-05-02T20:48:00.000-07:00

All of it.

I was just reaching 40,000 words in my novel when I tried to update my save. My flash drive reported some weird error. It wanted to know if I wanted to save my story as a temp file. "No," I thought. "I just saved it with no problems 10 minutes ago."

Confused I took the flash drive out and put it back in.

Nothing.

I, Themistocles was nowhere to be found.

I'm so upset I don't know what to say. It took me hours upon hours just to get 40,000words typed up (and that's only one notebook of work I have to do). I have one copy on my desktop but the last point I saved it at was about 5000 words or so. I was relying on my flashdrive to save the day should anything go wrong. It ate my novel instead.

I know nothing of flashdrives. I know I kept getting an "Internet" eror message but I figured that wasn't going to hurt my novel. I was wrong, because SOMETHING went amiss. Now I might have to start typing my novel up all over again. It's so frustrating I want to cry.

Is there anyway to recover my story? Why after I saved it so many times would it want me to save my story as a temp, and then when I refuse take my saved file away?? It's an EP Memory if that helps.

And now a word from our sponser...

2009-04-28T09:44:00.000-07:00

We interrupt Meghan's regularly scheduled updates on her novel to bring your news from her other job. Recently, the popular online gaming site IGN did a spoof on Final Fantasy XIII, involving an English "dubbed" version of the demo disc. In it you can hear Meghan's first attempt at voice acting as the blonde vixen who not only looks good but carries a "big" gun.

Already this video has received nearly 40,000 hits on Youtube and has received over 800 5-star rankings. This video is rated M for Mature.* Please enjoy.

Final Fantasy XIII Dub

*Language used in video may not be suitable for children.

This is going to take forever...

2009-04-26T19:46:00.001-07:00

According to Microsoft Word, I typed out a little over 10,000 words today. It took hours. I still have one more section of my notebook to copy onto my computer. Then it's four more notebooks to go.

Bleh.

THE END.

2009-04-11T15:04:00.000-07:00

Last night, I wrote out those very words.

It was a clumsy, crummy ending with lots of [ADD DETAILS HERE!!11] and muttering about how unhappy I was with it (too many sentences like "...then Themistocles talked to this person and got an idea. Then he did the idea and then went back to Magnesia.")

STILL, I have SOMETHING like a first draft written down, clusmy and clunky as it may be. And now that my Sony Vaio is FINALLY working again I can take all 5 notebooks containing my novel and type them up on the computer. After that a LOT of adding and subtracting until I actually have a decent piece of work fit to pass along to a willing agent and or editor.

And now Meghan is going to start typing up her novel. :D

Ancient Greek still spoken in the Peloponnese!?

2009-04-02T12:09:00.000-07:00

Could it be that a form of archaic Greek still exists in the world?

According to Wikipedia, a dialect derived from ancient Doric is still spoken by a small group of people in the Peloponnese. This language, known as Tsakonian (Τσακωνικά), preserves archaic forms of Greek and is not always intelligible with the modern language spoken in Greece today. Tsakonian is divided into three dialects: Northern Tsakonian, Southern Tsakonian and Propontis Tsakonian. The core vocabulary remains recognizably Doric, though it's hard to say how much of it contains true Doricisms.

Naturally yours truly was excited to learn that a descendant of the language used by the Spartans still exists (though obviously much changed since ancient times), so of course I headed over to Youtube to see if anybody had uploaded a video featuring a native speaker. Sure enough I came across the following links:

Τραγούδια Τσακώνικα

I Told You Mother, Give Me in Marriage

The first song is in (Southern?) Tsakonian and is sung by someone in Leonidio. The second tune also has a dance that accompanies it, which is said to be derived from the Crane Dance of Theseus.

I have to say I love the sound of Tsakonian. It's crisp, clear and easy on the ears. What do you think?

The 21 Letters of Themistocles

2009-03-30T09:54:00.000-07:00

As anyone who's tried to research Themistocles knows, there aren't a whole lot of ancient sources on the Athenian navarch. The earliest we know of is Herodotus, and shortly after a few words from Thucydides. From there the sources get pretty dubious due the increasing time lapse between his death and later authors.

But one of the most dubious sources is also one of the most interesting: 21 letters accredited to the political powerhouse that follow his adventures from Argos, where he was exiled sometime after 478 BC, to his triumphant escape to Persia in the mid 460s. These letters are addressed to everyone from King Pausanias of Sparta to Themistocles' personal banker, and go from petulant to proud, angry to contrite. Modern scholars are pretty sure they were written around the first century A.D., so it's safe to say they probably aren't Themsitocles' personal letters (though could there have been an earlier source...?).

That being said, I was still intrigued and decided to read them for myself, but getting my hands on a copy was HARD. No matter what I Googled or where I looked online I couldn't seem to find these phantom letters! Luckily Amazon came to my rescue by bringing up Patricia A. Rosenmeyer's "Ancient Greek Literary Letters", which has all 21 in tact for my reading enjoyment!

The letters are fairly short, and unfortunately they don't shed a whole lot of new information on Themistocles; they just re-hash what earlier sources have already reported. What's really weird about them though is their contradictory nature. They make Themistocles look downright schizophrenic!

For example, in one letter Themistocles thanks Aristeides for helping take care of things back in Athens for him. Yet in another correspondence Themistocles has only childish spite for "The Just" one:

"I hope the victory statue set up at Salamis will fall down and crush you; it's stone you know, large and plenty heavy[!]"

And:

"So Aristeides, son of Lysimachas can go hang himself, and the rest of you [Athenians] can go hang yourselves too."

I have to admit out of all 21 letters, this is by far my favorite. It's just so hilariously immature! I can't help imagining Themistocles standing in the direction of Athens and sticking his tongue out.

As for the I, Themistocles itself...I'm SOOO close to finishing my first draft! Themis is in Aeolia right now, trying to get an audience with the Persian king. I think Themistocles should be involved in one last good ruse before I write "The End", but I'm still not sure what that should be. Does he help the Athenians at the battle of Eurymedon? Is he involved in Artabanus' court intrigues in Susa? Does he create more mischief for Sparta while abroad? Can't seem to decide...

Oh. before I forget, there's something I want to ask readers: what do you think of the title I, Themistocles? I like it, and the words even appear in a "letter" to Artaxerxes according to Thucydides, but it's far from original (I, Claudius, I Elizabeth, etc.). What do you think of these alternative titles?

1) King of the Sailing/Floating/Windswept/Briney Walls
2) King of The Winedark Sea
3) Teaching Cattle to Walk Backwards: The Life and Times of Themistocles
4) Odysseus in Athens
5) A Victory Wreath for Foxes

I'm really liking Teaching Cattle to Walk Backwards (a shout-out and 1000 points to anyone who gets the reference!, King of The Briney Walls, or Odysseus in Athens. Let me know what you think in the comments section (and feel free to make your own suggestions).

My Blog is Fabulous!

2009-03-25T09:28:00.001-07:00

According to Carla, that is! Awesome. Now I just have to name 5 things I love/can't get enough of and 5 people who deserve this award.

1) Writing (duh)
2) Reading (double duh)
3) Studying languages
4) Dining out
5) Shoes

And the following awesome sites deserve an award too:

The Writing Greek
Jason Pinter
Helena Schrader
Jason Evans
de praeter tempore

Yay! My blog is fabulous!

Here We Go Again!

2009-03-19T10:29:00.001-07:00

"Wretched ones why sit you here? Flee and begone to remotest Ends of earth..."
--Delphic Oracle to Athenians 480 BCE

So I've finally got Themistocles on the run (he's been implemented in a conspiracy and his enemies in Athens want to pass a death sentence on him), but the problem is I don't know how to write this part of Themistocles' saga. Ancient authors agreed Themistocles ran around in circles before ending up in Magnesia, but WHERE and HOW he got to his destination is a matter of dispute.

And there are little details that elude me. Like, did he take his family with him into ostracism? Or if he snuck them out of Athens while on the run how did they know where to meet him? What route is the most realistic if he goes first to Corcyra then Sicily then to Ionia? Is the story about running to the king of Molossi in Epirus true? And why run at all? Why not just go to Athens, make a speech and remind people that somebody who is dealing with the Persians would go to PERSIA, not Argos. Why not point out the Spartans merely hate him for stirring up democratic sympathies in their territory? Or was he afraid of meeting an assassin before he got the chance? It's not unheard of (see Hipparchus and Ephialtes).

It's an exciting and interesting part of Themistocles' history to write about and it's full of space for me to fill in, but it's got me banging my head against a wall because I don't know how to tackle it. Ugh.

Themistocles: The Ancient Greek Churchill?

2009-03-09T14:56:00.000-07:00

Or to be more chronologically correct, is Churchill the British Themistocles?

These mens' lives are a near perfect mirror image of each other. Both saved their respected cities from aggressive conquerers, both were stubborn and difficult to get along with, both were unperturbed in the face of danger, both were voted out of office after a smashing victory, and both were known to have a sharp wit and a sharper tounge. The more I read about Churchhill, the more struck I am by how much he and Themsitocles are alike. Which leads me to a question for my blog readers:

Should I give my novel a Churchillian flavor?

I LOVE WC's writing, but worry about my novel looking like I took a copy of My Early Life and simply crossed out the word Winston and wrote Themistocles above it. I don't want any accusations of plagiarism or unoriginal voice. Still, I think it would be neat if the style was reminiscent of the witty Prime Minister. Or is that just lazy/lame/annoying?

There's also the problem I'm having finding my own voice. Right now the tone of my novel changes depending on which of my favorite authors I'm currently reading. I have yet to establish my own unique voice and it's driving me crazy.

What do you think? Any suggestions would be helpful.

BTW, I'm getting closer to writing THE END for my first draft. I'm so excited!

Good news!

2009-02-23T11:58:00.000-08:00

After thumbing through Herodotus for the millionth time last week, I came across a passage I hadn't paid much attention to. It involves part of the Spartan marching (sneaking?) off in the middle of the night in order to help their allies up north before the battle of Plataea. This passage suddenly sparked an idea for my story, and my writer's block has been removed! I am now on the last stretch of the novel, and hope to finish it by mid-March at the latest. It's all hand-written, which means I'll have to type it up at some point, as well as add/subtract chapters and do lots of editing. But just writing out "The End" will be an awesome milestone!

To Keep Themistocles Waiting...

2009-02-17T13:15:00.000-08:00

...Is a bad idea to be sure.

Argh.

I'm on the last 1/3 of the race, and my energy is flagging. My Themistoc/kles novel is soooo close to being finished and yet I haven't felt the urge to write. That might be because my work and social calender have gotten a lot more full, and life in general has gotten a lot more stressful. Still, it's not fair to Thems or myself to make him just sit there in Attica, waiting for a final showdown with Xerxes (the battle of Salamis is done, but there's still a wall to build, an Assembly to manipulate and a Spartan army to prod along!)

Has anyone had this happen? How does one gather inner energy to make it through the final lap in the race?

Because I have nothing better to blog about...

2009-02-05T14:41:00.000-08:00

This was going around the office blogs where I work, so I thought I'd post it here, too! I never get tired of these stupid things...I tag Scott, Jason, Gabriele, Carla and Wynn!

1. What is your occupation right now?
Database Editor at IGN.

2. What color are your socks right now?
White.

3. What are you listening to right now?
Mantra-Away (Todd Edwards remix).

4. What was the last thing that you ate?
Chicken strips from Hitachi.

5. Can you drive a stick shift?
No.

6. Last person you spoke to on the phone?
Can't remember.

7. Do you like the person who sent this to you?
Nobody sent it; I STOLE it!!

8. How old are you today?
29.

9. What is your favorite sport to watch on TV?
Football.

10. What is your favorite drink?
Tie: Coca-cola/Calistoga mineral water.

11. Have you ever dyed your hair?
Yes. I dyed it blonde for a year then changed it back to brown with red highlights.

12. Favorite food?
Pizza.

13. What is the last movie you watched?
Uh...I watched part of Bride of Chucky in Spanish the other day. Does that count?

14. Favorite day of the year?
August 9th.

15. How do you vent anger?
By hitting and kicking my poor Playstation 2 console.

16. What was your favorite toy as a child?
My collection of Barbie dolls (which I still have, btw).

17. What is your favorite season?
Summer.

18. Cherries or Blueberries?
Blackberries, please.

19. Do you want your friends to e-mail you back?
Friends? The hell are those?

20. Who is the most likely to respond?
Nobody.

21. Who is least likely to respond?
Somebody.

22. Living arrangements?
Rent-free!

23. When was the last time you cried?
A week ago but I can't remember exactly why. (^_^);

24. What is on the floor of your closet?
Clothes and shoes.

25. Who is the friend you have had the longest that you are sending to?
There's that "friend" word again! What IS that!?

26. What did you DO last night?
Went out to dinner with the parents.

27. What are you most afraid of?
Something bad happening to me or someone I care about.

28. Plain, cheese, or spicy hamburgers?
Karai, onegai!

29. Favorite dog breed?
Pekingese.

30. Favorite day of the week?
Saturday.

31. How many states have you lived in?
I've always been a California girl!

32. Diamonds or pearls?
Both, please.

33. What is your favorite flower?
Roses. Roses draped in diamonds are best, though...what?

Pick Me! Pick Me!

2009-01-15T17:10:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I entered one of Jason Evan's awesome writing contests, and I have to see it was a great experience. There's a lot of talent that participated in this competition, but I hope you'll vote my story as one of the winners. Even if I don't win however, I'm honored to be in such great company.

Here's my story. Enjoy!

The Long Ride Up
Meghan Sullivan

I hoped the escalator ride would never end.

When you’re on an escalator, it’s like being in limbo. Up you go, the world falling away, your destination hazy and distant. As long as you stay on it, nothing is expected of you. Maybe that’s why I wanted the escalator to just keep going, to rise endlessly so that I didn’t have to do anything.

As we ascended I looked down at the stair in front of me, its metal lines of destiny glowing like pale moonlight. How could something as mundane as an escalator stair be so otherworldly? I tried to ponder that mystery, but my eyes drifted to Kanji’s heels instead. I watched as he shifted his weight from right to left, the metal creaking underneath his leather boots. Was he uneasy? Was he bored? Did he not want to be there? With me?

What if I did take his hand? But suddenly I could hear his voice, harsh and full of alarm. “The hell are you doing!?” And like that our friendship would end. I loved him too much to risk that. Which is strange. I mean, there is something ironic about losing someone you love just because you make the mistake of saying “I love you.” So I kept my hands to myself and stayed silent, and prayed our journey would never end.<

Happy 2009!

2009-01-02T13:57:00.000-08:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

I feel very positive about 2009. I know everything will be OK if we just do our best!

Speaking of which, I'm now 2/3 of the way through the first draft of my Themistokles novel. It will be so rewarding when I finish. Just getting to the end of a story has proven to be a long, difficult but rewarding experience. I'm proud of myself for sticking with it. It might take me time to re-draft, re-write, edit and add, but I'm so happy I've gotten as far as I have and I won't give up!

So with that said, I'm making two resolutions: to exercise on a more regular basis (yeah everyone says that, I know) and to finish my novel. Wish me luck!