Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays, everyone! I hope you are having a magical time!

I am typing on my new Sony Vaio labtop. It is awesome. I'm hoping being armed with a new labtop will give me the motivation to organize my story notes, write more now that I have a computer in my room (and at just over 5 pounds can take around with me) and get my novel finished! Woot!

Thinking Aloud

Famous bust of Themistocles (Roman copy)

I keep mulling over why it's so hard to write O&E. I think I've said this before, but I blame the time period. The early 5th century in Attica is a transitional period, which makes it hard to write about. To add to the frustration, ancient historians didn't always agree with one another, which means modern historians squabble about when things were invented, who did what and when they did it. This confusion makes it hard to reconcile certain "facts" in history and in my story.

This past weekend I finally come up with a plausible backstory for Themistocles, and even then I had to tweek some stuff. For example, his Archonship is traditionally dated to 493 BCE, but I push it foward to 483 BCE, because it makes his career easier to follow (and besides, Herodotus says that Themistocles had only recently came to power when he was in charge at Salamis!)

Anyway, this is what I have so far (keeping in mind it's still a very rough draft) :

Themistocles (son of Neocles) was raised by a single father after his mother--a foreigner-- died when Themistocles was two. The boy who's name means "Glory of the Law" lived in dire poverty after his father gambled away most of their money. The only way they could get by was to swindle the citizens of Athens by various monetary scams. Meanwhile Themis was influenced by the philospher Mnesiphilus and learned to appreciate the art of oration, which would help him later in the political arena.


When Themistocles was in his early teens he was a witness to great political change. In the late 6th century Cleisthenes established democracy in Athens, loosening the stranglehold the aristocrats had on power and giving it to the common citizen. Themistocles was so inspired by Cleisthenes he vowed to become a powerful politician himself. In the meantime he eeked out a living as an unsuccessful lawyer, until he suddenly landed a major case: Miltiades had fled Thracian Cersonese where Athens had a colony and was accused by the citizens of Attica of being a tyrant and put on trial. Remarkably, Themistocles managed to convince the jury not only to drop the charges but pursuaded them that Miltiades could be useful should the Persians ever attack Athens. When the Persians made their move not long after it was Miltiades who led them in battle. After the spectacular victory Miltiades tried to "punish" the city-states in the east that supported Persia but his mission was a failure and he returned home in disgrace. Men called for the death penalty, claiming that Miltiades tricked them, but once again Themistocles managed to change the verdict to a fine instead. Unfortuantly Miltiades died in jail and his young son Cimon was forced to pay the steep fine of 50 talents.

After making a name for himself as a lawyer Themistocles went on to work in the public sector until he gained enough popularity to run for Archon. In 483 he did just that and won by a landslide (some say a crafty scheme was involved). It was during his Archonship that Athens had a major windfall: a huge amount of silver was discovered just south of the city. Themistocles--using his political muscle, a little persuasion, and a lot of blackmail--convinced the citizens to use the silver to pay for a new fleet of ships. They agreed, though not without his enemies trying to ostrasize him. In an ironic twist he managed to get his enemies ostrasized instead! Meanwhile Themistocles increased the power of the Board of Generals so that he could join it after being Archon and continue to be a major influence. He also made sure nobody could have as much power as Archon again by pushing for the Archonship to be determined by lot. After a whirlwind year of change Themistocles go onto the Board of Generals where he continues to wield a surprising amount of power. But his enemies are determined to see his downfall. And for some, that means looking to the East for help...

New Blog

As you can see, I changed the design and the name of this blog in the hopes of attracting more historical fiction fans. I'm not sure I'm happy with "Ancient Musings" though. Any ideas on a good name? Here are some words that I would be down with (not in any order):

1) Ancient
2) Greece
3) Hellas
4) Persia
5) Sparta
6) Queen
7) Lady
8) Chariot
9) Marathon
10) Scroll
11) Artemisia
12) Xerxes
13) Cyrus
14) Themistocles
15) Leonidas
16) Darius
17) Atossa
18) Artystone
19) Pasuanias
20) Archippe
21) Cimon
22) Acropolis
23) Palace
24) Muse
25) History/Historical

...you get the idea.


If you can make anything out of this list of random words/names or have an idea for a cool title for my blog, let me know! I appreciate any and all suggestions.

Random Thoughts

Ack! I'm stuck again! Have I bitten off more than I can chew? Is three books too much? Should I just write straight through as much as I can? I just can't make little stuff come together. I have no idea what my problem is lately. I write (or at least research/read) for my novel almost every single day, but once again I'm suffering from writer's block. What gives?????!!!!!

This random string of thoughts was brought to you by the letter S. As in STUCK.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I just wanted to drop by and say Happy Thanksgiving! I'm really thankful to everyone who reads this blog and responds. I love being a part of such a cool writing group. I'm also thankful I have a blessed life and am able to do what I love.

What are you thankful for?

The Attican & The Ionian

This brief chapter will probably not make it into the final version of the novel, but I thought it was a cute idea to have a famous philosopher and a famous general meet. I know it's weird to give Anaxagoras an accent, but for some strange reason it just fit. This is the first half of the chapter. Enjoy!

*Themistocles asks his friend Mnesiphilus to find someone credible person to prove that a recent eclipse is not a bad omen for Athens and that they should continue to make preperations for war with Persia. Who Mnes finds is not who Themis expects...


A small breeze from the Aegean whispered through the distant olive groves, cutting the oven-like heat that hung over the city like a heavy cloak. Riding the wind was the faint tang of fish and salt, making a man hungry for charcoled tuna and fried mackerel. Above the polis the twinkling constellations floated in the cool black pool of night. Themistocles was lying on a stone bench looking up at them, fanning himself with one hand. He wondered if the deities of the sky looked down on humans and pitied them. They probably laughed. He would.

Taking a sip of Rhodes, he listened to the sounds of the city in his empty courtyard. Athens was never truly silent. Men stumbled home drunk from parties, married couples argued loud enough so everyone could hear, dogs barked in back alleys and goats bleated high atop the hills. The noises were signs that life went on, no matter how many times the Boeotians raided the northern frontier, or how many earthquakes there were, or how many volcanoes erupted, or how many eclipses happened, or even how many stories of the Persians marching west were heard. The sounds were comforting, a reminder that no matter how terrifying Night's presence Helios would never fail to rise up and chase her off. Even if it was an endless chase. Themistocles grimaced. I shouldn't think such things. Night is night and day is day. He rose up from the bench with a yawn. Tomorrow would be a brand new day, and he would begin his own chase.

He was just about to retire when there was a knock at the gate. It was late, and he was expecting no visitors. “Xenos.” Silence. "Xenos! No Sic, not you." He waved the servant away. As usual Sicinnus refused to retire until Themistocles was safely in bed. "Xenos!" The boy finally appeared from the servant quarters, bleary-eyed and yawning, his tunic inside out. "We have a visitor." Blinking away sleep, Xenos stumbled across the courtyard and unlatched the gate, swinging it outward slowly so as not to hit the visitor in the face. It was Mnesiphilus.

“Oh good you're up,” he chirped as he handed Xenos his hat and bent down to unlace his sandals. “Go on, boy! I don't need my feet washed and I'm not so old I can't unlace my own shoes." He grinned up at Themistocles. "Forgive the hour but I just had to come and see you." “Been drinking, have we?” His friend laughed as he threw his sandles against the wall and strolled over to clasp Themis on the shoulder. “Only a little. I was making my way home from a tavern in the Ceramicus and decided to take a walk to clear my head. I ended up on the Acropolis. And I met someone there." Themistocles gave a sly smile. "Oh?" His friend nodded. "Today's council meeting bothered me quite a bit so I went up their to comtemplate things. I mean, for those damn aristocrats to suggest making a peace offering with the Satrap in Lydia? And now trying to contact the grandson of Croesus, who may not even be alive for all we know.” “Like it would do any good anyway,” Thems said dryly. They had cut their ties forever with Lydia when the Alcmaeonidae had convinced Athens to help in the Ionian Rebellion fifteen years ago. The capital of Sardis had burned and the Persian king had been wroth.

“I suppose even more men are saying the eclipse means we should capitulate?” “Yes,” Mnes admitted. Then he grinned. “But that’s where this lad comes in.” Behind them a youth was just handing his dirt-stained boots over to Xenos, a freckled-face boy of no more than twenty with frizzy copper hair and large dark eyes. His beard was as gangly and scant as the rest of him, split by crooked-teeth that grinned out at his host. That was not what Themistocles had been expecting.

“How do you do, General!” the lad said in excited tones. He rushed over and grabbed Themis' hand and shook it vigorously. “It’s such a pleasure to meet you, Sir! I’ve 'eard all about you Marathon men! General Mnesiphilus 'ere was kind enough to talk to me and now I get to meet another brave soul such as yourself!” “Oof!” The boy's handshake was so enthusiastic Themistocles felt his teeth rattle. In the shadows Sic shifted as though ready to charge. It was an effort to shake hands and wave the slave away at the same time. When the boy let him go the world was spinning quite nicely.

“Do you have a name to go with that handshake?” “Anaxagoras of Clazomenae,” the boy announced proudly. Themisotcles frowned. “Clazo…?” “Between Sardis and Halicarnassus,” Mnes explained. “They speak a form of Attic dialect there.” “That they do, General that they do.” The boy's grin managed to widen. “No Dorian blood in this skinny ol’ body, if that’s what you’re wonderin’.” Mnes laughed. “It seems the Doric dialect isn't popular in that area of Ionia. At any rate, I remembered what you said about finding someone who thought the eclipse a good omen so we could convince the council to go to war with Persia, and found this boy right in the middle of market traffic today. Everyone was looking up and frowning as though another eclipse was coming. This one was was staring up at the sun and grinning. I saved him from getting his teeth knocked out by a farmer trying to get his wagon by.” It would have been an improvement, Themis thought. The boy’s teeth were truly ugly. It was an effort not to stare while the youth talked. “Me and the general 'here met again tonight when I was studyin' the stars. I just turned around and saw my 'ero nearby, standin' all by 'imself on the other side of the Acropolis. We got to talkin', and I told the General 'ere that the 'eavens are truly a blessin’ with many miracles, and that’s why I was smilin' at the sun earlier today'. That's when General Mnesiphilus said I should come with 'im. Meet the brains behind the great new fleet o' Athens.” His grin threatened to split his face in half. Themistocles had to struggle to keep his own smile. I wanted a scholar, not a vagabond!

"Great. Xenos, go mix up a bowl of wine for our guests.” The youth was lighting more torches in the yard but now put down his flint and oil and skittered off towards the kitchen. “Should I bring out the couches as well, Master?” he called over his shoulder. "I'd rather not have my guests sit on the ground, yes.” Meanwhile Sicinnus still had loomed in the shadows, glowering at the strangers. Themis sighed. He was going to have to keep an eye on Sic tonight. The man had not taken the eclipse as a good sign, and seemed to think it might be personally dangerous to Themistocles and his family. Lectures about who and who not to trust did not penetrate the man’s skull.

Once they were settled he was able to learn more about the strange youth from Ionia. The boy was as happy as a blind bard to tell his story...

The Things We Learn

While looking up how the Ancient Greeks used the pillory (as mentioned in Herodotus), I stumbled across a totally unrelated fact: "In Ancient Greece, bankruptcy laws forced the debtor to sit in the market place and place a basket over his head." I had never read that anywhere, so I thought it was interesting.

It's always interesting how while looking for one thing, we find another. I didn't find anything on the use of pillories in Ancient Greece though. I wanted to know since King Cleomenes of Sparta gets thrown in one by his relatives. Did it look like the ones used in Europe 1000 years later? It would be interesting to know for my novel.

This IS SPARTAAAAAA!

I saw this and thought it was hilarious....O&E still in progress.

Dear History Channel...

Would you please stop airing shows that are not related to history? I'm tired of turning to you in the hopes of seeing something historical and instead see a show about truck drivers, martial artists or various technology. What happened to Alexander? Themistocles? Pericles? Cleopatra? George Washington? What happened to the battles of Salamis, D-Day, Stalingrad, and Marathon?

We humans have thousands and thousands of years of history involving hundreds of cultures from around the world. Yet like MTV you no longer bother with the things that made you what you are. Instead you have shows about things that would be better suited to the Discovery Channel. What's wrong with you?

If you're in need of ideas why not do a reality show where people must live like Ancient Romans? Or an all-history trivia show? Or even a cartoon for kids (I saw one about Herekles awhile back)?

Oh. And when you DO do history, would you please get basic facts right? Sometimes you get them wrong and it's a bit of a problem.

Sincerely,
M. S.

What's In A Name?

Archippe (?)

I always wondered what the heck certain names meant in Ancient Greek. After all, so many of the names are similar. Thanks to a website I found last week (http://www.behindthename.com/), I now have an idea of what some of those names mean. Here are a few of them:

Themistocles: "Glory of the Law." From the words "law" (themis) and "glory" (kleos). Awesome, especially since in my story he bends, twists, stretches and flat out breaks the law to get what he wants.

Cleisthenes: "Glorious Strength." From the words "glory" (kleos) and "sthenos" (strength)

Interesting. In my story Themistocles was inspired to be a politician after witnessing Cleisthenes turn Athens into a democracy.

Aristides: "The Best Kind." From the words "best" (aristos) and "kind" (eidos). This name fits the man, since he was also known as "The Just."

Xerxes: "King of Heroes/Ruler Over Heroes." From the Persian name Khshayarsha. An impressive name, though according to ancient (and biased) sources Xerxes is less heroic than eccentric...

Darius: "Possessor/possessing of Good." From the Persian name Dârayavahush. A very good name for a very shrewd man who managed to grab power in the wake in a coup. He managed to win battles and win over his rivals at the same time.

Leonidas: "Lion." Perfect name for a Spartan king who was brave enough to make a last stand at Thermopylae.

Archippe: "Master of Horses (?") Possibly a feminine form of Archippos. From the words "master" (archos) and horse (hippos). Archippe is the daughter of an illustrious Athenian so the name is perfect for advertising her blue blood.

Gorgo: "Gorgon." An unusual name for a girl, but perhaps not for a Spartan. Queen Gorgo may have had a male relative with the same or similar name.

Demaratus: "Hoped for by the people." It was this hope that was both the salvation and bane of the Eurypontid throne...

Sadly I still can't find the meaning of the following names:

Pausanias

Cleombrotus

Cleomenes

Artabanus

Artapharnes

Cimon/Kimon

Dieneces

Leotychidas

Mardonius

If anyone knows what --menes means, or Cleo--let me know. Oh. And Meghan means "great." Great...

Mars vs Venus In Writing

While reading over some of my work, I realized that I haven't entirely mastered the art of writing from a man's PoV. Being somewhat of a girly girl, I guess it's hard to wrap my brain around the way men think. At work I'm surrounded by boys who shoot each other with nerf guns, talk about crude bodily functions like it's an art form and do nothing but rib each other all day. Sometimes I think the only way I'll ever understand them is if someone takes a lead pipe to my head for several hours so my IQ goes down from 100 to 1.

I realize that my perplexity over guys also shows up in my writing. Pausanias reads more like a girl than a guy. I feel like I could make Themistocles a bit more rough around the edges. In my mind's eye King Leonidas is far about "fart jokes" and crude humor, but does that make the story less interesting or realistic?

What do you guys think? How can I get my characters to man up?

Stuck Again

Ack! My story has come to a complete halt. The problem is the first book doesn't have any battles or action scenes. It's about Athens and Sparta trying to unite the Hellenes and Artabanus trying to prevent Persia from going to war. Not overly interesting in and of itself, but important to the story. A few characters have some adventures, but other than that I need to make unexciting events exciting. So if you have any ideas, I'd be happy to hear them. (^_^);

Robert Jordan Passes Away

I'm sad to report that one of my favorite authors, Robert Jordan, has passed away. The WoT series is one of my favorite fantasy series of all time and I can't express how much fun it's been to read it. Robert Jordan will be missed by his fans.

Writer's Block

For the past few weeks I've been dealing with Writer's Block, a pesky imp that lurks in dark places and chases away the Muses. I haven't been able to think of any way to bring certain elements of my novel together smoothly and I blame this nasty little customer. It bites at my ankles and taunts me a lot, trying to get me to feel like a complete failure. Then I read Scott Oden and George RR Martin's blogs and apparently every author has had to deal with orcs and imps and other kind of writing fiends, so I know I'm not alone. Luckily last night a Muse made a quick visit to my brain to drop off an idea. I'm excited about it and hopefully something will come of it. Stay tuned.

P.S. Finish your novel, Scott Oden! Some people want to read it!!

Group Tours To Greece?

For the past month I've been trying to plan a trip to Greece that allows me to hit Athens, Sparta, Corinth and Delphi. Unfortunately I've come to the realization that NOBODY wants to visit Sparta. I keep looking up tours for Greece and could see every major city except Sparta. Of course I could just arrange my own tour but I don't want to travel by myself.

If anyone knows of a group tour going to Greece that goes through these cities by all means let me know. I've only found one tour that stops by Sparta and I'm looking for more. Thanks!

Fun Facts About Ancient Greece

I spend a lot of time researching for my novel The Owl & The Eagle, and I'm surprised at all the interesting facts I come across about Ancient Greece and Persia. Therefore I decided to start sharing these facts with readers of my blog, just in case they're interested as well. :)

Fun Fact #1

OK, this is more of a theory than a fact, but I found it so fascinating I just had to share this! According to Nicholas Ostler, author of Empires of the World: A Language History of the World, Ancient Greek was actually a tonal language, with ..."each word given a distinctive melody of high and low tones..." The language that most closely parallels this today? Japanese!

Sugoi!

Historical vs Fiction

This week I am proud to say my story The Owl & The Eagle is really moving along. I got a lot of work done (which can be tricky with a full-time job) and the novel is really starting to solidify. The only problem is that a major plot point in the story didn't happen according to Herodotus. It's nothing silly or magical, and ties several people and events together rather well, but I still can't help but feel a twinge of guilt. I mean, if it really happened (Themistocles being shipwrecked on Aegina) you'd think someone somewhere would have reported it. I guess that's why my genre is Historical Fiction, but I still feel like people will frown on it. What say you? If you know Herodotus (or Greek history in general), would you mind a bit of tweeking to history for the sake of a more interesting story?

70K words!?

Wow. The other day I did a word count for my novel, and even though a lot of it has huge breaks in between paragraphs, not all of it is double-spaced and some stuff will be deleted entirely (and replaced with other chapters), I'm still surprised. It's over 60,000 words. In fact, counting all the weird breaks and what not, it's actually over 68,000 words! And I'm nowhere near finished.

In the meantime I'm planning a trip to Greece in late September early October. I'm trying to go to Corinth, Athens, Sparta and Delphi, but nobody wants to go to Sparta so it keeps messing up my itinerary. It would be cool to hit up Turkey as well, but time and money are two things I'm a bit tight on.

For now I need to keep working on my novel though. Hopefully I'll put up part of another WIP soon (though I'm being told it's not a good idea to post my story in public lest I lose rights to it).

Your New Queen!

The title "Queen" in front of my various blogs and online personas was always kind of a joke, but it now turns out I might actually be related to a queen. Recently I was informed that my mom's relatives (Highlanders out of Scotland who settled in North Carolina around the early 18th century) are somehow related to the Royal House of Stuart/Stewart. It's kind of cool to think that somewhere there's an empty throne in Europe just waiting for me to claim it.

So if you're a prince looking for a princess (with a family tree that actually FORKS), I'm always available. :D


In other news, My O&E progress came to a screeching halt last week as I had a game review to write up (although I did have a a lightbulb moment that involves Themistocles/Xanthippus/Aristides/Aegina/Sparta) so hopefully I'll get back on track this week. I also bought Acacia and agree with about 100 other reviewers that the story is quite enjoyable and David Anthony Durham is an awesome writer. He's also very interactive with his fans, so if you haven't done so, click on the link to his page and check it out. Very cool.

King Alexander WIP

As promised, here is another (admittedly short since the rest of the chapter is still being edited) excerpt from the The Owl & the Eagle. It's from the POV of King Alexander, who is somewhat of a mysterious character in Herodotus. Is he supporting the Hellenes or the Persians...?


Macedonia
Summer 481 B.C.E.

King Alexander swirled his wine filled cup and watched the sun melt into the sea, the light making puddles in the dark, foaming waters beyond the strip of rocky land. Days ago it had vanished from sight, shrouded by the moon's gray pall. The eclipse had left him shaken, and then there was the letter that arrived this morning to chill his blood even more. Only two lines and full of ominous warning. Do not resist. It is futile. Were they words urging him to caution? Or telling him of his fate? He drained his cup. “There are no witnesses,” he said aloud. If they came looking for the giant, they would only find bleached bones.

He was alone on the balcony, but could not resist caressing the hilt of his sword. He was never without it. The Persians might come for him any day now, and lay the charge of murder at his feet. Sixteen charges for sixteen men. The thought filled him with dread. He knew what the Empire did with murders. He knew what it did with traitors, too. His hand tightened around the hilt. The scabbard was inlaid with gold and silver, the blade finely forged. The sword was a gift from his Persian in-laws, meant to tie the two royal houses together through the marriage of one of their generals and his sister, but really it was a fetter that bound him to their service. It was the price he had to pay to keep his secrets.

A strong wind tugged at the king's dark green himation. It was always windy on the peninsula. Here the North Wind bent blades of summer grasses in the fields and valleys, pushed at rocky hills, and ruffled the restless waters below Mt. Athos. For countless centuries Boreus had kept away pirates and invaders with his cold whispers. Once his icy breath and piercing howls gave the king comfort, but no more.

Below the palace the sound of construction shook the air, along with barked instructions and curses in a dozen different tongues. In a steady line stretching west to east towards the peninsula’s outer edge, men in dirty loincloths crouched in deep trenches, digging deep into the land, their spades biting into the stubborn clay-filled earth. Others shifted buckets of soil and silt from the earth and handed them to the people above. Their overseers were dressed in bright colored robes that glinted in the sun, whips coiled at their waist like sleeping vipers. Sliding nervously past them slaves shouldered heavy wicker baskets full of food and supplies along the work lines, stooping low to hand out wares to the workers before they stood up, warily shrugged their baskets higher onto their shoulders, and continued on. The work in this heat was unpleasant no doubt, but the king would not be sad if they all dropped like flies. The foreigners were a swarm of locus, emptying his granaries and wasting his wine and harassing his people. For two years the construction of the canal had been going on. For two years it had drained his resources and been an affront on his sovereignty. The project was nearly finished, but Alexander knew his woes were just beginning.