Which Bad Girl of the Ancient World are you?

Please welcome author Stephanie Dray to my blog today. Stephanie is a local author who I had the great fortune to meet at the Baltimore Book Festival. I was already a fan of hers after reading LILY OF THE NILE last year, and I was super excited to have her hand me a copy of her latest book, SONG OF THE NILE. Check back tomorrow for my review of her new book!

Which Bad Girl of the Ancient World are you?

by

Stephanie Dray

One of the favorite presentations I give is entitled Bad Girls of the Ancient World. I love to give this talk, because most of the powerful women in the ancient world have some sort of relation to the heroine of my novel, Cleopatra Selene.

Selene wasn’t, herself, a bad girl. At least, she was never vilified the way her mother before her had been. She had a nearly unblemished personal reputation, in spite of some of the provocative things she did--many of which I explore in my new novel, Song of the Nile.

But just because she doesn’t come down to us as one of the bad girls of history doesn’t mean she was a pushover. And thinking about how they may have inspired her began to inspire me to think about who I might have been like in the ancient world.

To that end, I’ve created this fun little quiz specially for this guest blog appearance, and I’d love to discuss the results with your readers. So, here you have it. WHICH BAD GIRL OF THE ANCIENT WORLD ARE YOU?

[Heather's Note: Ends up I am Cleopatra VII - what fun! Please share your results in the comments and let me know if you think they are accurate!]

Bio
Stephanie graduated from Smith, a small women’s college in Massachusetts where–to the consternation of her devoted professors–she was unable to master Latin. However, her focus on Middle Eastern Studies gave her a deeper understanding of the consequences of Egypt’s ancient clash with Rome, both in terms of the still-extant tensions between East and West as well as the worldwide decline of female-oriented religion.
Before she wrote novels, Stephanie was a lawyer, a game designer, and a teacher. Now she uses the transformative power of magic realism to illuminate the stories of women in history and inspire the young women of today. She remains fascinated by all things Roman or Egyptian and has–to the consternation of her devoted husband–collected a house full of cats and ancient artifacts.

Blurb
Sorceress. Seductress. Schemer. Cleopatra’s daughter has become the emperor’s most unlikely apprentice and the one woman who can destroy his empire…

Having survived her perilous childhood as a royal captive of Rome, Selene pledged her loyalty to Augustus and swore she would become his very own Cleopatra. Now the young queen faces an uncertain destiny in a foreign land.

Forced to marry a man of the emperor’s choosing, Selene will not allow her new husband to rule in her name. She quickly establishes herself as a capable leader in her own right and as a religious icon. Beginning the hard work of building a new nation, she wins the love of her new subjects and makes herself vital to Rome by bringing forth bountiful harvests.

But it’s the magic of Isis flowing through her veins that makes her indispensable to the emperor. Against a backdrop of imperial politics and religious persecution, Cleopatra’s daughter beguiles her way to the very precipice of power. She has never forgotten her birthright, but will the price of her mother’s throne be more than she’s willing to pay?

Berkley Trade October 2011 (Trade Paperback)
# ISBN-10: 0425243044
# ISBN-13: 9780425243046

Purchase Info
Amazon
B&N
IndieBound
Constellation Books (Heather's Note: This is our local indie!)
Powell's

What I've Been Up To ...

It's been quiet around here lately but that's because summer is in full swing and I'm doing everything BUT reading.  To see what crazy adventures I got myself up to last week, check out my guest post at Wordsmithonia today.  I can just about guarantee that my week was more ... um ... dangerous? ... than yours!

A Christmas Book Review

Today I'm over at Book Journey to tell everyone about a Christmas book that is perfect for the whole family.  I hope you'll head over and check it out!




Also, if you are a praying person please keep Sheila @ Book Journey in your prayers.  She is currently in Honduras on a missions trip!

I'm on "Scene of the Blog" today!

Despite the fact that posts here have been mighty sparse lately, I am guest posting as part of Kittling: Books feature Scene of the Blog.  Please head over there and check out my very short post.  Be sure to leave a comment - I'd love to hear from you!

The Lamentable Embassy of Royal Orphans

The Lamentable Embassy of Royal Orphans

a guest post by Stephanie Dray,

author of Lily of the Nile

Thanks for having me here today and indulging my nerdiest impulses. The heroine of my debut novel, Lily of the Nile, is Cleopatra’s daughter, the young Princess of Egypt who would be marched as a chained prisoner through the streets of Rome. At the end of a Roman triumph--that military parade during which generals celebrated their victories--their captives were often strangled or killed. There were, however, notable exceptions.

The children of royal families were sometimes spared from execution and kept as hostages to secure the submission of any remaining allies and ensure the good behavior of their conquered homelands. Such was the case with Cleopatra Selene, her twin Alexander Helios, and their younger brother Ptolemy Philadelphus. These three young children, the last survivors of the Ptolemaic dynasty, were not only spared, but taken into the household of Augustus to be reared by his sister.

My novel came about because I imagined the inner turmoil of a girl like Selene, the ward of the same man who forced her parents to suicide and killed her older brothers. My novel focuses on her struggle for survival in a hostile and foreign city. But my appreciation of her tragic circumstances comes with an awareness that Selene and her brothers weren’t the only children struggling with this fate.

Though hostage-taking was common enough in Rome even before Augustus came to power, it was this first emperor of Rome[1] who made a political art form of collecting the children of his enemies. Selene grew up amongst a houseful of children in what the French historian Auguste Bouche-Leclercq would call “the lamentable embassy of royal orphans.”

Some of these orphans were her own brothers and sisters, her father’s children by other wives. Iullus Antonius, the only one of Antony’s Roman sons to survive, probably last saw his father when he was seven years old and was formally brought into Augustus’ household when he was eleven. His mother died while he was still a toddler, so he likely had few memories of her. Augustus’ family may have been the only family that Iullus ever knew and he was granted extraordinary favors by the emperor--who gave his own niece Marcella to Iullus in marriage. (Still, a full-blooded heir of Antony was a dangerous man to leave alive, and this may have been Iullus’ undoing later in life.)

Another of the children Augustus collected for his political stratagems was Juba, son of a fierce Numidian king of the same name who chose the wrong side in a war against Rome and paid the price for it with his life. Juba was quite possibly an infant when his father was forced to suicide and no older than five years old when he was displayed in Caesar’s triumph. Unlike Selene, he would have no memories of his homeland nor siblings with whom to recount the tragedies of his young life. He was raised as a Roman boy and the family of Augustus was the only family he knew. Juba was a prodigy, recognized for his scholarship before the age of twenty. He served Augustus in a military capacity in Spain, and possibly before then in the war against Selene’s parents, and went on to become Selene’s husband and Rome’s most trusted client king.

Selene came to Rome in chains but left as a Queen and both she and her husband proved to be such fine examples of what could be accomplished by this policy of benign hostage-taking, that it would become a central hallmark of the Augustan Regime. Augustus would transform a boy named Hyginos who had been taken from Spain into his chief librarian. He would host the sons of King Herod so as to determine which of them might make a better heir for the troubled Judean kingdom. He would return a hostage prince to the Parthians in exchange for a peace treaty only to later host Parthian princes as guests, to indoctrinate them in the Roman way.

From our modern vantage point, there’s something decidedly sinister about using children in this way, and my novel examines the personal toll it might take on a little girl. But I must also point out that the policy was wildly successful and helped cement nearly a hundred years of relative peace that would come to be known as the Pax Romana.

BIO

Stephanie Dray is the author of a forthcoming trilogy of historical fiction novels set in the Augustan Age, starting with Lily of the Nile: A Novel of Cleopatra's Daughter. Before she wrote novels, Stephanie was a lawyer, a game designer, and a teacher. Now she uses the transformative power of magic realism to illuminate the stories of women in history and inspire the young women of today. She remains fascinated by all things Roman or Egyptian and has–to the consternation of her devoted husband–collected a house full of cats and ancient artifacts.

She is currently sponsoring the Cleopatra Literary Contest for Young Women, the deadline for which is March 1, 2011, but join her newsletter now for updates and a chance to win a free copy of Lily of the Nile and additional prizes.

---

[1]There are some who dispute that Augustus was Rome’s first emperor and stress that his reign differed from those of his successors because it was a slow accumulation of powers with consent of the governed. Because I think the consent of the governed is suspect under the circumstances it seems more realistic to view the reign of Augustus from the perspective of its outcome, in which case, he was the founder of a dynasty.

graphic memoirs for book club

This month my book club tried something completely different: graphic memoirs.  I tell you how it turned out in my regular monthly post at Reading Group Guides so come check it out!

Robin Maxwell on Juliet and Romeo

Today I'm featuring a guest post from Robin Maxwell, author of the new novel O, JULIET.

First let me tell you a bit about the book:

Before Juliet Capelletti lie two futures: a traditionally loveless marriage to her father's business partner, or the fulfillment of her poetic dreams, inspired by the great Dante. Unlike her beloved friend Lucrezia, who looks forward to her arranged marriage into the Medici dynasty, Juliet has a wild, romantic imagination that takes flight in the privacy of her bedchamber and on her garden balcony.

Her life and destiny are forever changed when Juliet meets Romeo Monticecco, a soulful young man seeking peace between their warring families. A dreamer himself, Romeo is unstoppable, once he determines to capture the heart of the remarkable woman foretold in his stars.

And now a few words from Robin on why she chose to write about Juliet and Romeo.

A lot of readers have asked me why, when I've always written about historical figures, did I decide to tackle literary figures, and particularly ones immortalized by Shakespeare. I think the actual light bulb moment came when I read that another author had written an historical fiction called LADY McBETH. I thought, “Hell, what an amazing idea!” I had loved another fiction using a literary figure — AHAB’S WIFE — and my mind zip-zipped to that before coming back to Shakespeare. It was hardly a moment before I realized that “Romeo and Juliet” had never been written as a novel. I couldn’t believe my good luck. I whipped out a brief proposal which everybody — agents, editors, publisher — adored, and got right to work. Shortly I discovered that Romeo and Juliet were “in the ozone,” with the second “Twilight” movie (“New Moon”) filled with references and themes from the Bard’s play; Pop star Taylor Swift’s award-winning “Love Song,” about the famous couple, “Letters to Juliet” (a modern day romantic drama to be released in May); and a more-contemporary-than-medieval novel called JULIET being published in August.

Was I nervous about appropriating two of Shakespeare’s most beloved characters for my own? How could I not be? One device I used to make a literary distinction from the master was to make Romeo and Juliet not only amateur poets themselves, but to both be devotees of Dante (the middle ages’ greatest “rock star”). I used Dante’s beautiful (but little known) love poetry liberally in O, JULIET. My detractors are having a field day repeating that “Ms. Maxwell is no Shakespeare,” but DUH…who in their right mind would ever attempt that? I was also, according to my critics, “attempting to fix what was not broken.” But my purpose was simply to shed some light on the lives of everyones’ favorite star-crossed lovers, and I must say, I’m very pleased and proud of my efforts.

Other readers wonder how it was to be writing about a fictional woman and what were the qualities that made her as strong a heroine as the women in my previous novels. I would say that all my heroines are the “strong-willed-woman-ahead-of-her-time-who-is-looking-for-a-marriage-for-love” — everyone from Anne Boleyn and the young Elizabeth (SECRET DIARY OF ANNE BOLEYN, VIRGIN, MADEMOISELLE BOLEYN) to Grace O’Malley (THE WILD IRISH), to Princess Bessie of York and Nell Caxton (TO THE TOWER BORN), to Caterina da Vinci (SIGNORA DA VINCI). Even though Juliet’s accomplishments may seem minor compared to Anne’s (the Reformation), Elizabeth (the English Renaissance and conquering the Spanish Armada) and Grace O’Malley (pirate, gun-runner, troop transporter and “Mother of the Irish Rebellion”), Juliet’s courage in defying her family and repressive society in order to be with the man she loved was HUGE. This was a girl (daughter of a merchant) who, from the time she was born, would have been barely allowed to leave her father house (except to go to confession and the occasional social gathering) until the day she married her parents’ choice of a husband, after which she would have continued to remain cloistered in his house till the day she died. Relatively speaking, what Juliet accomplished with her rebellion was enormous.

Thank you, Robin, for sharing that with us. I hope you all enjoyed hearing from Robin!

I've heard great things about O, JULIET - have you read it yet?

Guest Post for Veterans/Remembrance Day

I have a guest post over at Historical Tapestry today in honor of Veterans Day (aka Remembrance Day). My post is about how my grandparents' lives influenced my love of WWII-era historical fiction. I do hope you'll hop over there and check it out ... and please post a comment!

Learn more about why we honor this special day: learn about Veterans Day, learn about Remembrance Day.

~~~~~~~~~~

Today I am remembering one specific person: Joseph Tofinchio. He was my grandfather's best friend in WWII and was killed on the third day of fighting after D-Day. I found out that his grave in Normandy is being cared for by a local Frenchman, and that makes me very happy.

Here's to you, Joe.

Guest Post: The Rage of Achilles (and US-only giveaway)

As I hope you've already heard, RebeccaReads and I are co-hosting the Really Old Classics Challenge between now and Feb. 2010. One of the "extra credit" activities for this challenge is to read a modern retelling of a really old classic. I enjoy these kinds of books and would love to get more people reading them.

In keeping with that, I've got a guest poster here today who will tell you about his new version of Homer's Really Old Classic, THE ILIAD. I haven't yet read this new book, entitled THE RAGE OF ACHILLES, but it definitely sounds good to me! (Be sure to read until the end for the giveaway info.)


*** About the Book ***

The Rage of Achilles, by Terrence Hawkins

Blood. Guts. Pride. Wrath.

The ancient clash of armies outside the walls of Troy is a cornerstone of Western literature. In The Rage of Achilles, Terence Hawkins brilliantly reimagines that titanic encounter. His stunningly original telling captures the brutality of the battlefield, the glory and the gore, in language that never relents.

Raw and compelling, [this book] tells the story of Achilles, a monstrous hero, by turns vain and selfish, cruel and noble; of Paris, weak and consumed by lust for his stolen bride; of Agamemnon, driven nearly to insanity by the voices of the gods; and of Trojans and Achaeans, warriors and peasants, caught up in the conflict, their families torn apart by a decade-long war. [It] is an exhilarating story that has captured the imaginations of readers for thousands of years restored to immediacy.

Find out more at www.terencehawkins.net.


*** Author Guest Post ***

The Rage of Achilles is intended as a realistic retelling of Homer’s Iliad. That is, I assume the war was fought at a real time, in a real place, by real men. In doing so I discovered why the original became the cornerstone of the Western literary tradition and has held our imaginations for three thousand years. It’s a hell of a story.

We all remember the outline: Trojan prince Paris steals Helen from Menelaus, King of Sparta; Agamemnon, Menelaus’ older brother and overlord of the Greeks, raises an army and invades Troy. Nine years into the war, Agamemnon humiliates Achilles by taking a girl Achilles himself had taken in a battle with the Trojans. Achilles decides he’ll sit out the rest of the war. But when his lover Patroclus is killed by Hector he gets back into the fight, kills Hector, and mutilates his body. It ends with Achilles, relenting in response to pleas from Trojan King Priam, returning Hector’s body to his father for a decent funeral.

That much we all remember. What we have forgotten----or at least I had forgotten----was much that was rich and strange. But I also found much that was missing. As I wrote the book I was struck by the fact that even though the dispute was between Paris and Menelaus, the war was actually fought between their older brothers, Hector and Agamemnon. That couldn’t have been easy for anyone. Homer made little if any mention of the relationships between the brothers, Trojan and Greek. In my account, I try to imagine the tensions that must have made the air between them boil. Similarly absent from the original is the relationship that started the war in the first place: Paris and Helen. After all, he kidnapped her for a reason. I attempt to show the relationship between them through Helen’s eyes. And I try to imagine as well what it must have been like to be Menelaus, on the beach before Troy, knowing not only that some young bastard is in bed with your wife in there, but knowing as well that every man in your army knows it as well.

I had also forgotten a great deal. There is a lot of very odd behavior in the original. And I exclude from that the exceptionally brutal nature of a war fought with edged weapons, which I describe in some detail-----not because I like it, but because the work’s original audience, living in those times, would have well known what that kind of war, looked, felt, and smelled like. No, by “odd” I mean things like Trojan Queen Hecuba exposing her breasts to her son Hector in an effort to dissuade him from taking on Achilles, or Priam worrying aloud to the whole court that if he’s killed his starving dogs will devour his genitals. Stranger still is Achilles’ execution of a dozen Trojans to be thrown on Patroclus’ pyre----we don’t associate human sacrifice with Homeric Greece.

Those who’ve read my other work are sometimes surprised by the brutality and strangeness of this-----but the really weird stuff is all Homer.


*** The Giveaway ***

The publicist who contacted me about this book has offered a copy to one lucky winner. Here's how to enter:

• Leave a comment saying what intrigues you about retellings of ancient classics, or letting me know why you signed up for the Really Old Classics challenge (if you have signed up that is!). A simple "enter me!" won't get you in.
  
  
• If your email address is not available through your profile or your blog, please include it in your comment.
  

• This contest is open to US residents only, per the publicist.
  
  
• I'll draw the winner on Nov. 16 so be sure to enter before then! The winner will have 24 hours to contact me to claim the prize; if I don't hear from that person I'll select a new winner.
  

Guest Post: Author Kathleen McCleary

Please welcome Kathleen McCleary, author of HOUSE AND HOME. I reviewed and loved her book last year, and I also had the opportunity to meet and video her at the 2008 Baltimore Book Festival. Her novel is now available in paperback and she is on tour with TLC Book Tours this month.

Childhood Imagination
By Kathleen McCleary

When I was nine, my best friend was a girl named Joanna who lived around the corner from us, in a rambling old Victorian house with an overgrown garden. In those days of no Internet, no cell phones and just three TV channels, we spent a lot of time playing “imaginary games” in the corners and cubbies of our respective houses, or roaming through the woods and meadows beyond our street.

The favorite game in my house, on Wakeman Road, was called “Falling through the floor.” We’d pretend the floor would give way and each time we’d find ourselves in a different world. In another game, called “Krakatoa,” we were survivors of a volcanic eruption, fleeing the burning lava and trying to survive a harsh new landscape. We ran a dancing school in the bonus room above my garage, teaching elaborate dances to other neighborhood kids while Diana Ross’ “Love Child” boomed from our tiny turntable. We found an old trunk and “sailed” it down the small river beyond our house, pretending to be explorers.

We moved when I was twelve, and I lost touch with Joanna. A few years ago, though, I discovered what she’d been doing. Joanna was a novelist, an amazing novelist, who had received a MacArthur “genius” grant, a Guggenheim fellowship, and been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Two years ago, I wrote my first novel, and sent Joanna a note asking if she’d “blurb” it for me. Even though we hadn’t been in touch in more than thirty years, she wrote back right away, a wonderful letter full of reminiscences about those childhood games. “I wonder if in all the imagining we did as kids,” she wrote, “we ever came close to guessing what lay in store?” (She wrote a lovely blurb for my novel, too.)

This is why I push my kids to turn off the TV and computer and lock up their cell phones. This is why we vacation for several weeks every year in a cabin on a mountain lake without any technology (not even a phone). This is why I believe letting kids get just a little bit bored is a good thing.

So here’s to the power of the imagination, to cultivating it, nurturing it, letting it run wild. You never know where it might lead.

Note: Kathleen’s childhood friend, the novelist Joanna Scott, is the author of Follow Me, The Manikin, Arrogance, Make Believe, and Everybody Loves Somebody, among other works.

Thank you, Kathleen, for stopping by today. I hope my readers enjoying hearing from you as much as I did.

And to my readers, if you haven't read HOUSE AND HOME, I encourage you to check out this book trailer - it will give you a very good idea if this is a book you will enjoy as much as I did.

Backwords Books + Giveaway

I'm pleased to welcome author Kristen Tsetsi to my blog today. Kristen is here to tell you about Backword Books - I think you'll find what they are doing very interesting. She's also giving away a copy of her novel, HOMEFRONT, to one lucky winner - and she'll ship internationally! Details on the giveaway are at the bottom of this post.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It’s because the readers of this exceptional book-review and book-club blog have such passion for books and all things reading that I’m excited to be given this space to introduce you to Backword Books (backwordbooks.com).

Backword Books is a collective of authors publishing under their own imprints, and whose novels have received critical acclaim and attracted media attention. From our website:

There has never been a time like this. There’s a perfect storm brewing: publishers less willing to take chances on new fiction writers and emerging media making it easier for writers to reach readers…

People read good books. The BACKWORD authors write good books. There are no longer any valid barriers keeping the two groups from finding each other.

Popular perception is that independently released novels are substandard. We don’t completely disagree—many of them are. Just as many traditionally released books are substandard. Our purpose, our goal, is to introduce the good independent work to readers and break down the belief that if it’s self-published—no matter what it is (and if it’s not by someone famous)—it should be discounted. Publishers don’t make good writers. Good writers make good writers.

A little about the Backword Books’ authors and their books:

Kristen Tsetsi's 'Homefront' has a cab-driving former English professor, an unpredictable alcoholic Vietnam Veteran, an anti-war soldier, and a morbid mother in-law coming together in this realistic, sensual, and darkly humorous semi-autobiographical tale of waiting through a war deployment. [Heather J.'s note: I reviewed her book here - it was quite good!]

* 'One of the most powerful and brilliant books I have read in a long time. Make this the next book you read.' –PopCultureZoo

* ‘Love and pain is the plot of Homefront, but in the hands of this talented artist they are a mighty force.' --James Moore, co-author of the bestselling, 'Bush's Brain: How Karl Rove Made George W. Bush Presidential'

Bonnie Kozek's 'Threshold' is a take-no-prisoners noir thriller whose protagonist, Honey McGuinness descends into a dark, seedy, and dangerously seductive underworld in the fearless pursuit of her best friend's killer.

* 'This book kicked me in the teeth. Every few scenes your get you jaw rocked and your gut punched. It hurts like hell, but once the literary adrenalin starts juicing, there's no way you are going to stop.' -Ron Fortier, Pulp Fiction Reviews

* 'Let's face it, living life can be pretty graphic. And, ignoring it doesn't solve problems. Ms. Kozek takes the reader into such a seedy world brilliantly.' --Susan Haley, Fascinating Authors

Andrew Kent's 'Spam and Eggs: A Johnny Denovo Mystery' has the world-renowned detective finding a message hidden in a spam email, which sets in motion a case filled with metaphors and double-meaning.

* 'This book is different from any other that I have read. 'Spam & Eggs' is a clever, intellectual mystery that will leave you wanting more of Johnny Denovo in the future. I look forward to many more intriguing cases!' --RebeccasReads.com

* 'This is a book that in fact puts the writing of a lot of very seasoned and famous mystery writers to shame. . . . If true talent rises to the top then this is not the last we have heard from Johnny Denovo and his creator Andrew Kent.' --The Book Friar

Eddie Wright's 'Broken Bulbs' tells the story of Frank Fisher who finds himself involved in a twisting mystery full of addiction, desperation, toothaches, hamsters, a vindictive postal worker, and self-discovery.

* 'A brilliant and stunningly original work, by far the best novel I read in 2008.' --Alternative Reel

* 'This slim volume is the bastard child of Memento and William S. Burroughs, absolutely not for the faint of heart nor for anyone seeking a nice, simple beach read.' --Jason Pettus, The Chicago Center for Literature and Photography

R.J. Keller's 'Waiting for Spring' takes readers beyond the Maine tourists know, beyond lighthouses and lobster and rocky beaches, and drops them instead into a rural town whose citizens struggle with poverty and loss, yet push onward with stubbornness and humor.

* 'A strong debut. Her voice is strong, her talent is evident. [... This is the spring of Keller's work, the beginning and now we can anticipate the full bloom of summer in her next work.' --Barb Radmore, Front Street Reviews

* ''Waiting for Spring' is a very well-written, consistent story with a skillful eye for characterization. It's not a showy fantasy or clever comedy or groundbreaking genre-maker -- but it accomplishes something even better. It shows you a main character, and unfolding group of secondary characters, that live and breathe and...touch the reader's heart and mind.' --Sarah Suleski, Web Fiction Guide

Christopher Meeks's 'The Brightest Moon of the Century' brings Minnesotan Edward Meopian across thirty-six years, and such situations as an all-boys high school, a drive-in in mid-winter, and a mini-mart in an Alabama trailer park to find his place in the universe.

* 'Meeks manages to put together a thoughtful, fresh-feeling portrait of how we become who we are.' --Cherie Parker, Minneapolis Star-Tribune

* 'This focus on introspection is what pins the story together into more than a series of vignettes. No matter where Edward is, or what age he may be, his talent for both engineering frustrating, socially awkward situations and learning from them make him supremely sympathetic.' --Jennie Blake, Book Geeks

'American Book of the Dead' by Henry Baum will release soon. In the meantime, to read Baum’s work, pick up The Golden Calf or the self-published North of Sunset, listed in Entertainment Weekly as the #1 Self-Published Novel. North of Sunset also won the Hollywood Book Festival Grand Prize.

Meeks' and Baum's work both made the EW list of best self-published novels, and critically-acclaimed Homefront--whose true-to-life characters and unique relationships continue to make it an increasingly popular book club selection--has been featured on NPR’s “Faith Middleton Show,” “Front Page,” and a number of other radio programs.

The novels at Backword Books are literary fiction. All this means is that they can’t easily be categorized on a shelf under “Romance,” “Mystery,” or “Sci-Fi.” As a new collective, we’re understandably still relatively small, but we’re open to working with others and are looking at branching out. Because genre books have generally had an easier time of self-publishing, Backword is—for the moment, anyway—sticking to books that aren’t too genre-specific. But we’re thinking of connecting with a number of different niche publishers – a sort of Gawker-esque network of publishing collectives that all cross-promote. Thinking big: the idea is to have a romance self-publishing group, horror, science fiction, non-fiction, etc. But that’s something that will take a little time and planning.

Until then, you’re invited to stop by, take a look at our books, and read our blog. We have a lot of fun at Backword Books, and we even have the occasional heated discussion. Feel free to join in!

Coming soon: contests and giveaways. Subscribe to our blog to make sure you don’t miss anything. Also, look for a Backword Books feature in an upcoming issue of Publishers Weekly.

- Kristen

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks Kristen! And thank you also for the copy of HOMEFRONT that you are going to ship to one lucky reader.

*** How To Enter ***

• Leave a comment with your thoughts on Backword Books' authors collective - what do you think of their approach to self-publishing? Did any of their books catch your eye? A simple "enter me!" won't get you in.
  
  
• If your email address is not available through your profile or your blog, please include it in your comment.
  
  
• Everyone is eligible to win no matter where you live. Kristen has graciously offered to ship anywhere in the world - yeah!
  
  
• I'll choose the winner on Friday morning (8/14) so be sure to get your comment posted before then.

My Book Club and Little Bee

This month my book club met to discuss LITTLE BEE by Chris Cleave. I’d first heard of this book on ReadingGroupGuies.com and I was really excited to read it with the club. Our Sunday afternoon meeting was one of those rare days where almost everything seems to go right ...

The weather was gorgeous – mid-70s, puffy clouds, lots of sunshine. Our hostess has the most perfect shady, screened-in porch large enough for the 8 gals who attended to relax on her puffy chairs and soak in the mellow mood of the day.

We’re not a club who goes all out with the food at our meetings but we do like to eat. This time the stars aligned and we ended up with a fabulous spread: crepes, tons of fresh fruit, scrambled eggs with spinach and feta, bagels, chocolate covered strawberries, cake, and mimosas. Divine, I tell you … simply divine.

The book was a hit with most of the gals but we all reacted to it in different ways.

Read the rest in my regular monthly post at ReadingGroupGuides.com.

Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa

Yesterday I reviewed THE SECRET KEEPER by Paul Harris, a book I really loved. Today I'm glad to welcome Paul to my blog. Recently I've heard around the blogosphere that some readers skip over author guest posts but I do hope that you will take the time to read what Paul has to say. I found it fascinating and I hope you will too.

And now, Paul Harris.

In writing The Secret Keeper, I wanted to explore my own experiences of covering the end of the war in Sierra Leone. But, curiously, I also wanted to re-examine issues left over from another country completely. In The Secret Keeper I try and look at the age old conundrum of "the greater good". Is it right to sacrifice justice for one individual for the sake of a larger community? It is a tough question and very relevant to Sierra Leone. But, for me, the question really was about my experiences living in South Africa and covering an organization called the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).

I spent two years living in Cape Town working for the Associated Press. Part of my beat was reporting on the work of the TRC, which was a panel set up to examine apartheid-era crimes committed by all sides in the struggle against white rule. It was headed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a wonderful man who I can safely say fits the definition of "good" or "holy" more than any other person I have ever met. The TRC spent most of its time uncovering things like torture and murder by apartheid police and soldiers. But it also also looked at bombings and killings carried out by the black liberation movements.

The main aim of the TRC was simple: to search for reconciliation by simply telling the truth. As part of that mission amnesty was offered to anyone who had committed a crime but who could prove that a) they were telling the full truth and b) they committed the crime for political, not personal, reasons. Thus if you were a white policeman who had killed a black activist, as long as you fully detailed how you did it and proved you had acted politically, you would receive a full amnesty. Likewise, a black liberation fighter who had perhaps blown up a bar popular with police could also walk free if he too spoke truthfully about it and proved his political motivations. Not surprisingly this amnesty process produced often unbelievably tragic and gut-wrenching scenes. Relatives of the tortured and the dead had to endure listening to their tormentors and killers detailing exactly what they had done. And, often, walking away free.

Was this justice? For many individuals it cannot have felt that way. People were literally getting away with murder, and not by covering their tracks, but by fully confessing their crimes. It was harrowing to watch. But at the same time it was an astonishingly brave thing to do for the country as a whole. Something that was deeply rooted in African village traditions of putting the community's good ahead of the interests of getting justice for any one individual. As a society South Africa had tottered on the brink of a race war in the early 1990s. But the TRC became a vital part of the process of national healing. It led the way forward in moving the country on from its dreadful past and into an uncertain but democratic and peaceful future. It was an awesome thing to see, even as it raised for me still unanswered questions of whether it was the "right" thing to do. In the West we see things often through such an individualistic lens. What would you do if it was your relative who had been murdered and the killer walked free?

It feels impossible to say. But South Africa as a country, in the shape of the TRC, tackled the issue head on. Looking back, I guess it depends on what your definition of "right" is. But we are taught to think a little more clearly than that. That some things, especially around murder and torture, are always right and some are always wrong. But the TRC showed me that the real meaning of justice can be more complicated. Nothing is ever as easy as being simply right or wrong. The TRC decided that sometimes letting a killer walk free can be the right thing to do.

Thank you, Paul, for being here. Your book was excellent and I wish you much success with it. And thank you to all my readers who stopped by today; I hope you enjoyed hearing from Paul as much as I did. That blurred line between right and wrong is a central theme of THE SECRET KEEPER - if you found this guest post interesting then you will surely enjoy the book.

Author Guest Post: Erika Robuck

Yesterday I reviewed Receive Me Falling, the first novel by Erika Robuck (my review is here). Today Erika joins us to talk about how her story came to be AND to give away one copy of the book to a lucky reader. Thanks for being here Erika!

Erika at the CityLit Festival, April 2009

A Writer's Perspective: Writing Receive Me Falling
By Erika Robuck

The idea for the novel started with a vacation—or, rather, planning a vacation. My husband and I were looking to get away for our anniversary, and a friend recommended the Caribbean island of Nevis. I had never heard of Nevis, so I started researching information about it. I discovered that the tiny island was once known as the “Queen of the Caribees” for its prolific sugar cane production, and that thousands of slaves passed through its port town of Charlestown. In my Internet research, I also came across a picture from one of the Plantation Inns on Nevis that had an island man in historic dress pulling two white people in an open carriage. They were all smiling. I found the picture to be in poor taste.

This started my mind turning. How was plantation life for the slaves and slave owners in the nineteenth century and earlier? What was the lifestyle? Were there any indigenous people in the Caribbean before European explorers and slaves entered the scene? What is the sugar industry like today? How are tourists viewed by islanders? In my search to answer these questions, I began to think of a story of a reluctant plantation owner’s daughter, abolitionists, and the complexity of familial relationships under the slave system.

Receive Me Falling started as “plain” historical fiction. After the research, my first draft took roughly six months to write. My husband read it and felt that something was missing. He said that it felt like the skeleton of a story, and that many readers didn’t like historical fiction, so I needed something else to draw them in.

That’s when Meghan Owen—the present day protagonist—was born. I used her as a vehicle to take the reader on a journey. As she discovered things, the reader discovered things, and weaving the narrative of the past through the present-day telling filled in the gaps that Meghan couldn’t have found in her own research.

It was important to me to have parallels, without being too obvious, between the past and the present. I wanted to show the importance of history to the present, and the connections forged with the pasts of our ancestors that we are—in part—responsible for righting. Also, there are many books written about slavery, but very few written about slavery in the Caribbean, which is where many slaves passed on their journeys.

Mostly, I wanted to inform readers about a little-known place in history and entertain them while doing it. I love to read historical fiction and I love to write historical fiction. This novel is the first of many, and I hope to continue to illuminate more of those little-known places and times, while telling stories that keep readers engaged.


* * * Contest * * *

Find a question that speaks to you and answer it. The most intriguing response will get a free copy of the novel. The winner will be announced on May 1.

*Do you think it is the responsibility of those in the present to right the wrongs of the past?

*Do you agree that states should formally apologize for slavery?

*Name some of the ways your family history has shaped who you are, for better or worse.

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Due to shipping costs and customs fees, this contest is only for US and Canadian addresses ... sorry I can't include everyone this time. - Heather

Those are some very intriguing questions posed by Erika. I look forward to reading all your responses!

New Post at RGG

My latest post is up at ReadingGroupGuides.com. This time I talk about the Junot Diaz reading I attended with my book club this weekend (and boy, was it ever interesting!) and also our thoughts on Oscar Wao. If you have a minute, hop on over and check it out.

New Opportunites from Laurie R. King

Remember how I had author Laurie R. King on my blog twice last month? And how I was so excited about her upcoming book, THE LANGUAGE OF BEES? Well I've got her here again, this time with a great message for all you readers out there:

Dear friends,

With a new book coming out and an ongoing celebration ("Fifteen Weeks of Bees"--link below) in the Laurie R. King e-universe, I wanted to include ways to help Independent booksellers, libraries, and people to whom hardback novels are but a distant dream. Here's what I've come up with:

Indies--A piece of art:
Readers who buy a copy of The Language of Bees from an independent bookseller and send us their receipt will be entered into a drawing for a truly gorgeous piece of art: an original, limited edition letterpress broadside (value $125) of "A Venomous Death," a new, illustrated Laurie King short story featuring Mary Russell, Sherlock Holmes, and... bees. Details are at the link below.

Libraries--A set of Russells:
During National Library Week, we're collecting library love letters from their patrons. The winning letter gets a copy of the new book, The Language of Bees. At the same time, their library wins a complete set of hardback Russell and Holmes novels, beginning with The Beekeeper's Apprentice. We will also do a drawing this week from the "Laurie Loves Libraries" list on the LRK web site, and send that library a copy of the new book.

Fundraiser--Name a character, hear from Holmes:
Both to help the world and to honor bees (two books with bees in the title, after all,) we've set up a fundraising page at Heifer International to send beehives to poor communities worldwide. Those who donate two or more hives will get an exclusive Heifer booklet on beekeeping by Sherlock Holmes--and be entered into a drawing to name a character in the next Russell and Holmes novel.

I would appreciate it if you spread the word, and lend a hand to three great causes.

Laurie

____________________________

The links:

• Fifteen Weeks of Bees: http://www.laurierking.com/?page_id=912
  
  
• "A Venomous Death" Indies drawing: http://www.laurierking.com/?p=2614
  
  
• Libraries: http://www.laurierking.com/?page_id=2653
  
  
• Heifer International beehive project: www.heifer.org/laurierking
  
  
• The Fifteen Weeks contests: http://www.laurierking.com/?page_id=1725
  
  
• Free e-book download of The Beekeeper's Apprentice: www.TheBeeisFree.com

I hope that you will take advantage of some of these great opportunities!

Another Post is Up at RGG

My latest post is up at ReadingGroupGuides.com. In it I talk about my book club's reaction the two of Barbara Kingsolver's novels, THE POISONWOOD BIBLE and THE BEAN TREES.

Hop on over there and post a comment for me - I'd love to hear what you have to say!

An Author Answers My Impertinent Question (and a Giveaway)

If you read any other book blogs you've likely seen several posts about the new book SIGNORA DI VINCI by Robin Maxwell, a book that imagines the life of Di Vinci's mother. I was offered a copy of this book for a giveaway on my blog (details are at the end of this post), with the hope that I'd review it and maybe allow the author to guest post. I declined the review option because I just don't think that this is my kind of book. However I couldn't pass up the chance to ask the author a question that has been bugging me for a long time so I sent the following email to Ms. Maxwell:

I really enjoy historical fiction. I like when an author creates a character and puts him/her in a real-life historical setting, interacting with real historical figures in a way that fits into history. I also enjoy when real historical figures are the main characters, especially when there is enough known about them to create an "it could have happened this way" scenario. But what I'm not such a fan of is what you've done in this book: created a character based on (from what I can tell) the very few details known about a real life person. So much of the book is complete speculation. I'm partial to "truth" in historical fiction - I go for a bit more *historical* and a bit less *fiction.* So what I want to know is, why did you write this story in this way? What is the draw for you as a writer? What is the appeal for the reader?

Impertinent, much? After I sent it I worried that I might have offended her but luckily I did not. Ms. Maxwell was gracious enough to respond that "it was a good question" and to give me a thorough answer/explanation. Her response is lengthy but interesting and I do hope you'll take the time to read it.

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Response by Robin Maxwell:

In all my seven novels, I've never chosen to use an entirely fictionalized character for my protagonist, mainly because I feel there are so many real historical figures with mesmerizing stories that it wasn't necessary to make one up. That said, I have had as my protagonists, figures about whom there are mountains of biographies and histories written -- Elizabeth I, as an example. I tackled different parts of her life in four of my books (Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn, ages 25-26; The Queen's Bastard, 27-54; Virgin, 13-15; and The Wild Irish, 60-67). I was meticulous about sticking to the facts, but that was easy, as there were so many of them at my fingertips.

However, in The Queen's Bastard, one of the three main voices in the story is Arthur Dudley, the young man who claimed to have been the illegitimate son of Elizabeth and Robin Dudley. Out of all the history books I scoured looking for references to him, I found perhaps five pages of documentation. He was an English spy in the years before the invasion of the Spanish Armada, and he was arrested in Spain, brought before King Phillip II, and deposed by Phillip's English secretary for five days (that written deposition still exists in the Spanish State Papers with the King's comments written in the margins). What I read convinced me that there was a better-than-even chance that Arthur Dudley was who he claimed to be. Whether he was or wasn't, I figured this person had a fascinating life and needed his story told. Cloaked as he is in shadows, he remains one of my favorite characters in history.

In To the Tower Born I took two young women -- one the 18 year old Princess Bessie (Elizabeth of York, who was said to have been Richard III's lover before she became the mother of the entire Tudor Dynasty -- Henry VIII's mom); and Elizabeth ("Nell") Caxton, daughter of the first English printer/publisher, William Caxton, and plopped them down at the center of the mystery of the lost princes in the Tower of London. Strangely, very little has been written about Elizabeth of York, but I as least had skeleton of her whereabouts during the time in question. Of Nell Caxton, I had exactly one sentence of history. That she (daughter of the most celebrated non-royal of the period) obtained a divorce from her husband in London on a certain date.

From that simple fact, and from what I learned about William Caxton (three good biographies) I was able to envision a fascinating life for Nell. That she grew up within the walls of Westminster, where her father's printing press and bookstore were located and where the royal family (including Princess Bessie) held court. William was deeply respected, patronized and much beloved by every person in the royal family, and I thought that the two girls, of a similar age, might have been thrown together and even allowed a friendship. I deduced that Nell and Bessie were two of the best educated young women in England at the time, and I knew for certain that Bessie was smack in the middle of the high drama that led to Richard III's becoming king, and the disappearance of her little brothers. From this starting point, I did a great deal of detective work and research to formulate a unique solution to one of England's greatest mysteries -- one that I am proud to say has been lauded by the Richard III Society.

With regard to Signora da Vinci, the truth is that I really wanted to write a novel about Leonardo, as I believe him to possess the greatest and most creative mind in all of history. But for some years now, publishers of historical fiction have been fixated on novels told exclusively from a woman's point of view. My proposal to do a Leonardo book was very coolly received. But I was not going to be deterred. The more I read about him and the fabulous figures of the period, like Lorenzo "The Magnificent" de' Medici, Sandro Botticelli, the groundbreaking and courageous philosophers that defied the Catholic church with their Platonic Academy of Florence (see the bonus page on my website), the more determined I was to write about the period -- and not from an outsiders point of view. I wanted to be smack in the middle of all the hoo-ha. And right inside Leonardo's head.

That left his mother. I had only a couple of clusters of facts to go on -- that her name was Caterina, and that the day after her son was born out of wedlock, his biological father and grandfather came and took the infant from his mother and brought him up in their loveless home. Much later in life, a woman named Caterina came to live with Leonardo (the only female ever to do so), and two years later he paid for her funeral. That left me with either a gaping chasm, or a delightful "hole in history" to fill. I chose to see it as the latter.

Using the voluminous materials I had about Leonardo (1,080 pages of his writings alone!) I was able to extrapolate the character of his mother, the one person who would know the man best, from the inside out. That still left me with the problem of how she would insinuate herself into the all-male society of Renaissance movers and shakers, to get the inside scoop on "The Shadow Renaissance". So I disguised her as a man. Women did cross-dress all through the middle ages and the Renaissance (see the link to my bonus page).

So while you might see the whole story as far-fetched, it is all within the realm of possibility. Clearly, a reader must be able to suspend disbelief to enjoy Signora da Vinci, but if I had not expanded Caterina's character the way I did, I would never have been able to tell the story I wished to tell. I figure that readers get a unique and richly imagined perspective on history, one that is intimate and emotional while still planted firmly in deep research.

Please visit me at my gorgeous new website RobinMaxwell.com ... it looks just like Renaissance jewel box.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Giveaway Details

If you'd like a chance to win a copy of SIGNORA DI VINCI please post a comment on this website answering any one of the following questions raised by Ms. Maxwell's post:

• Is a historical fiction novel told from a woman's point of view more or less likely to grab your attention?
• Were you aware of the compromises author must sometimes make in order to get their books published (like having to tell Leonardo's story through his mother rather than on its own)?
• Did this post change your opinion on "fictional" historical fiction? In what way?
• Or you can visit Ms. Maxwell's website and tell me one thing you liked about it.
  

I'm willing to ship this book anywhere in the world as long as I can do it for less than $20 US. That's as much as I'm willing to spend on shipping, sorry.* So if you think your mailing address fits into my budget then please enter ... and good luck! Oh, and I'll draw a winner next Friday (2/13).

* I'm shipping from Maryland in the United States, in case you're wondering.

Guest Post by the author of My Splendid Concubine

Please welcome Lloyd Lofthouse, author of the historical fiction novel, MY SPLENDID CONCUBINE. I told you a bit about him yesterday if you recall. Today he is sharing a bit about how he came to write this book. Take it away Lloyd!

~~~~~~~~~~~

The journey that led to My Splendid Concubine started with my mother, who thought like a Victorian. The way she raised me would eventually become the driving force behind a decade of research, writing and revisions.

Concubine started writing itself in 1999 — sort of like a fire pushed by the Santa Ana winds in Southern California. I would often find myself studying research material or working on another chapter at three in the morning.

Of course, my mother did not introduce me to Robert Hart. My wife did. She said, “Since you have some Irish in your blood, you might be interested in this famous Irishman that went to China.” That led to a Christmas present to myself from Harvard, Entering China’s Service, Robert Hart’s Journals, 1854 - 1863.

After I started reading Robert’s journals, it didn’t take long to discover that my mother and Hart’s father, Henry, had something in common: a deep, personal connection to religion and a love for God.

Henry was a pastor in the Wesleyan religion and owned a small general store in the town of Armagh thirty miles from Belfast. My mother, on the other hand, loved to read and was the silent type. However, if she found explicit sex in one of her romances, it went into the fire. If a bad word came out of my mouth, a quarter went out of my pocket and into a can kept on the fireplace mantle to be donated to the church on Sunday.

In comparison, before supper each evening, Henry Hart asked his twelve children, one at a time, “What did you do for God today?” Robert was the oldest. However, while in college, Robert’s quest for love ended in all the wrong places. Once Henry Hart heard about what his oldest was doing at the University in Belfast, Robert’s guilt drove him to China.

After reading Robert’s journals, I felt as if I’d met a kindred spirit. To understand Robert was to understand myself. The reason for that was because Robert was also conflicted when it came to his desire for love and the religious guilt brought on by those feelings. Early in his journals, it was obvious that Robert was having the same tug-of-war I spent half my life dealing with. During Robert’s first year in China, when he was having a bad day struggling with his desires, he went to church twice on Sunday instead of once.

Then in 1855, he met Ayaou. That’s where the real mystery begins — the love story between Robert and Ayaou, his concubine. Why did Robert destroy the journals that covered his first three years with Ayaou? Why did he go through the surviving journals later in his life and black out some of the entries? Why was it that three years later, Robert was no longer searching for love? Temptation seems to never enter his mind again.

The answer was simple. The love he found with Ayaou fulfilled all his expectations and afterwards nothing else compared. It was as if he had been starving and stumbled on a feast. That’s what My Splendid Concubine is about — Robert’s journey through love’s passionate flames while finding peace with his God.

Before I finished reading Robert’s journals and letters, I knew I wanted to write his story. It would take another eight years to put it together. To do that I had to become like a Sherlock Holmes. One of the first steps in that journey was to understand Chinese culture and off to China we went — not once, but many times.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you Lloyd for sharing this insight with us. If you'd like to learn more about MY SPLENDID CONCUBINE please check out the website: http://www.mysplendidconcubine.com/

About the Author: Lloyd Lofthouse

Author Lloyd Lofthouse is on tour in the blog world this month for his new book MY SPLENDID CONCUBINE. Here's a bit about the book:

Driven by a passion for his adopted country, Robert Hart became the “godfather of China’s modernism,” inspector general of China’s Customs Service, and the builder of China’s railroads, postal and telegraph systems, and schools, but his first real love is Ayaou, a young concubine.

Sounds pretty good, right? I'm excited to read this book for several reasons.

First, I recently listened to The Man Who Loved China, the biography of a more modern British man whose Chinese mistress fostered in him a love of her country that changed for all time the way the West views the East. I'd like to compare the themes between these two similar but different books.

And second, the main character is an Irishman from near Belfast, just like my Gram. You gotta love that!

On Monday Lloyd will be guest posting here but today I'm going to tell you a little bit about him. Here's his bio:

As a field radio operator, Lloyd Lofthouse was a walking target in Vietnam in 1966. He has skied in blizzards at forty below zero and climbed mountains in hip deep snow. [Heather's note: My dad was in the special forces in Vietnam, so I have much respect for Lloyd's service.]

Lloyd earned a BA in journalism after fighting in Vietnam as a U.S. Marine. Later, while working days as an English teacher at a high school in California, he earned an MFA in writing. He enjoyed a job as a maitre d’ in a multimillion-dollar nightclub and tried his hand successfully at counting cards in Las Vegas for a few years. He now lives near San Francisco with his wife, with a second home in Shanghai, China. Lloyd says that snapshots of his life appear like multicolored ribbons flowing through many of his poems.

This link takes you to Lloyd's 'Vietnam Experience' page filled with photos. He took many of them. Since Lloyd still has to edit the photos so they load faster, this page
may load slow for older computers.

This link will take you to a media piece from a Southern California newspaper that Lloyd copied and posted on his Website that will give you an idea about his teaching years.

If you are interesting in learning more about Lloyd's teaching experience, you are welcome to read about it at AuthorsDen. 'Word Dancer' is a memoir of the 1994-1995 school year. He kept a daily journal that year. He is using that journal to write 'Word Dancer'. Everyday, when he arrived home, Lloyd wrote an entry in that journal. It sat on a shelf in his garage for fourteen years gathering dust. Spiders moved into the binder and built a nest. After all those years, Lloyd forgot he'd written it. When he was cleaning the garage, he found it again. Lloyd started reading, remembering and writing. Everything he writes in 'Word Dancer' happened. He's using a primary source as his guide. Memory may be faulty, but a daily journal written the day an event took place is as accurate as it can get from the author's point-of-view.

Accomplishments: Lloyd's short story "A Night at the Well of Purity" was named a finalist for the 2007 Chicago Literary Awards. As a teacher, Lloyd found satisfaction in the number of students that published nationally and internationally while attending his English and journalism classes. You can visit his website at http://www.mysplendidconcubine.com/.

Please stop by on Monday to read Lloyd's post about how he came to write MY SPLENDID CONCUBINE.