Excerpt Thursday: THE KING'S MAN by Alison Stuart

This week, we're pleased to welcome author Alison Stuart again with her latest novel, THE KING’S MAN (Guardians of the Crown Book 2). Join us again on Sunday for an author interview, with more details about the story behind the story. The author will offer a free copy of The King's Man to a lucky blog visitor.  Be sure to leave your email address in the comments of today's post or Sunday's author interview for a chance to win. Here's the blurb.

The second in a tantalising trilogy from award-winning author Alison Stuart, about warriors, the wounds they carry, and the women that help them heal.

London 1654: Kit Lovell is one of the King’s men, a disillusioned Royalist who passes his time cheating at cards, living off his wealthy and attractive mistress, and plotting the death of Oliver Cromwell.

Penniless and friendless, Thamsine Granville has lost everything.  Terrified, in pain, and alone, she hurls a piece of brick at the coach of Oliver Cromwell, and earns herself an immediate death sentence. Only the quick thinking of a stranger saves her.

Far from the bored, benevolent rescuer that he seems, Kit plunges Thamsine into his world of espionage and betrayal – a world that has no room for falling in love.

Torn between Thamsine and loyalty to his master and King, Kit’s carefully constructed web of lies begins to unravel. He must make one last desperate gamble – the cost of which might be his life.

**AN EXCERPT FROM THE KING’S MAN**

London

February 1654

Thamsine Granville had not begun the day with the intention of killing Oliver Cromwell.

Around her a jovial crowd pressed against the barricades, determined to enjoy the spectacle of the Lord Protector’s ride in state to dine with the Lord Mayor of London. But from across the road, he had seen her. A triumphant smile crossed his handsome face and he raised his hand to his hat, doffing it as he bowed. She saw him mouth her name and push his way towards the barricade. Thamsine swallowed, her mouth dry with fear. She only had a few moments to make good her escape, but the press of people to her rear hemmed her in, pushing her toward the barriers.

The bells of London, silenced for so many years, rang out, and above her the flags of the City Guilds flapped in the chill wind. A roar went up from the crowd as the coach bearing Cromwell approached.

From where she stood she could see the Lord Protector, clad in a reddish-coloured suit embroidered with gold. He inclined his head to acknowledge the cheers of the crowd with all the aplomb of a man born to such a station. She could see no trace of the simple farmer he had once professed to be. Thamsine’s heart beat a rapid tattoo. Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector, the false King, was about to become Thamsine Granville’s personal protector.

She stooped and gathered up the broken piece of brick at her feet.

Oblivious to his fate, Cromwell smiled, his right hand raised in a parody of benediction as if forgiving them their sins. At the sight of his face, solid and pudding-like, framed by the open window of the carriage, she raised her arm and threw with all the strength that she could muster.

The brickbat hit the body of the coach barely inches from the open window. She got a brief impression of surprise on her intended victim’s face. The coach stopped, the horses rising in their traces, whinnying in alarm. The crowd, stunned into silence, held its collective breath, every eye fixed on the ugly graze on the coach’s paintwork where the brickbat had struck.

A roar of approbation went up, but Thamsine Granville had disappeared. In the instant her fingers uncurled from the missile, someone had grabbed her from behind. Strong fingers dug into her arm and drove her with force through the crowd that parted before them like the Red Sea. She was only dimly aware of a commotion in the press around her. Soldiers yelled and a woman screamed but all she felt was utter despair. It had all been for nothing; somehow he had reached her.

The world roared in Thamsine’s ears. Her knees buckled and she could feel herself slipping into unconsciousness, only to be drawn back by a sharp, agonising tug on her arm as it was cruelly and expertly bent behind her.

‘Don’t faint, don’t you dare faint.’

She didn’t recognise the voice, and nearly screamed with relief. It wasn’t him.

‘Now, unless you want to end your life on a gibbet on Tower Hill, you will co-operate fully in what we are about to do,’ he said.

Her rescuer thrust her down a dark, noisome alley, pressing her back against a wall. The rough brickwork dug into her spine as he pulled her around to face him, pinioning her arms at her side. His body pressed against her and she closed her eyes, bracing herself for the blow or whatever punishment was coming her way.

She did not expect to be kissed.

Her instinctive reaction was to resist, but with her arms and her head immobilised she was reduced to trying to kick her assailant. He responded by placing a booted foot on her instep. She gave a muffled yelp of pain.

‘Who’s down there, then?’

A voice from the entrance to the alleyway caused her assailant to break off, allowing Thamsine the luxury of taking a deep breath. The fingers holding her arm tightened, digging into her flesh. It was a warning not to move, not to make another sound.

The soldier gave a ribald whistle. ‘Got yourself a tasty piece, then?’

In the shadows she saw her assailant turn his head towards the soldier. ‘Now then, sergeant. Can’t a man get a bit of privacy around here?’ he said in low and well-modulated voice, with an unusual undertone to the accent that she could not place.

‘What’s her charge?’ The sergeant’s voice again.

Thamsine squeaked in protest but the firm and painful pressure on her upper left arm deepened and she kept her peace.

‘My dear sir, there are some pleasures beyond price.’

‘We’re looking for a woman.’ The soldier’s voice became clipped and businesslike. ‘Just tried to kill the Lord Protector. Has she come this way?’

‘I doubt I would have noticed. I have been otherwise occupied these minutes past.’

Thamsine squirmed in the tight grasp. The easy, lascivious intonation of his voice made her want to slap him.

‘Well, good day to you, sir. I wish you joy of it.’

‘He’s gone,’ her rescuer said, removing his boot from her foot

Thamsine found her voice. ‘Let me go. You’re hurting me.’

‘Hurting you? Is that gratitude for saving you from the gibbet?’

He released her and took a step back. She straightened, rubbing at the place where his fingers had pressed.

‘Maybe I didn’t want saving.’

He stepped back and waved at the entrance to the alleyway. ‘Very well. No doubt you can catch up with the good sergeant, if that’s what you wish.’

To her embarrassment she started to tremble with cold, with fright, and with delayed shock, as the audacity and foolishness of what she had done began to sink in.

She had tried to kill the Lord Protector. Men had hanged for less.

In her desperate bid to escape him she had given no thought to what penalty she may have had to pay had she been apprehended. She owed this man thanks for her deliverance, but the words stuck in her throat.

She looked up at her rescuer. In the gloom of the alley it was hard to make out his appearance, and he wore a wide-brimmed hat that hid his face, but she could see that he was clean-shaven, his hair, dark and rough-cut, skimming an immaculate, white collar.

‘You do realise what you just did?’ he asked.

She nodded.

‘May I ask why?’

‘Because I wanted him dead,’ she said, without much conviction in her voice. It was not the Lord Protector she had wanted dead.

‘Well, I’m sure there are plenty who would share the sentiment, but hurling brickbats at a coach is hardly the best way to accomplish that end.’

She drew herself up to her full height. ‘And what do you care?’

‘I don’t,’ he answered. ‘I really don’t care at all. I have enough problems of my own without rescuing dim-witted whores who choose to hurl brickbats at the Lord Protector.’

‘I’m not a whore.’

He touched his mouth. ‘Well, you certainly kiss like one.’ (End Excerpt)

BUY THE KING’S MAN:

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Thank you for hosting me today.  

Please feel free to enter my RAFFLECOPTER CONTEST for a chance to win a 6” Kindle Ereader… all you need to do is click HERE.

Allow me to take you back to 1654 … the years after a bloody civil that tore the country apart and saw a King executed. The new King, Charles II, sits in exile and England is ruled by a ‘Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell…

READ MORE HERE

About the Author

Award winning Australian author, Alison Stuart learned her passion from history from her father. She has been writing stories since her teenage years but it was not until 2007 that her first full length novel was published. Alison has now published 6 full-length historical romances and a collection of her short stories.  Her disposition for writing about soldier heroes may come from her varied career as a lawyer in the military and fire services. These days when she is not writing she is travelling and routinely drags her long-suffering husband around battlefields and castles.

Visit her at her website, Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads. 

Myth & Folklore: The Beautiful and Dangerous Water Nixie

By Kim Rendfeld

Perhaps the legends of underwater magical creatures arose from people’s mixed feeling about bodies of water. A river could slake the thirst of humans and animals, provide the means to bathe and do laundry, provide fish and game, and bring commerce in the form of merchant barges. But those sources of survival and wealth were dangerous, too.

For Germanic people, a nixie was a being to fear. She appeared as a beautiful woman, but underneath that beauty is a diabolical, vindictive, cruel character who wielded powerful magic and bided her time to get what she wanted.

Two folk tales collected by the brothers Grimm feature nixies, and the protagonists must save themselves. There is no prince coming to the rescue; in fact, there is no mention of royalty.

In “The Water Nixie” (http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm079.html), the eponymous villain kidnaps a brother and sister who fell into a well and enslaves them. They escape while she is a church and use magic to slow her down.

“The Nixie of the Mill-Pond” (http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm181.html) is even more colorful and complicated. Here is a teaser of a tale with strong women as hero, villain, and counsel, and a man who needs to be saved.

A miller who has fallen on hard times encounters the nixie at a pond. Instead of running for his life, he stands entranced. The nixie promises to make him prosperous again if he will give what has just been born in his house.

The guy makes the promise, thinking the nixie wants a puppy or kitten. You’ve already guessed what happens next. As soon as he walks in the door, he learns his wife gave birth to a son. Either the nixie cast some sort of spell on the miller, or he is a complete dolt.

As his son grows up, the miller warns him to stay away from the pond. The son obeys, becomes a huntsman, and gets married. One day he hunts a roe and needs to wash the blood from his hands. Unwittingly, he has strayed near the pond. As soon as he dips his hands in the water, the nixie’s got him.

When he doesn’t come home, the huntsman’s wife suspects what has happened; her husband had told her about the nixie. She looks for him near the pond but sees only his hunting bag. After hours and hours of searching, she falls asleep and is told in a dream to trek over a mountain, descend to a valley, and seek the counsel of an old woman.

The huntsman’s wife is brave, tough, and persistent, and the nixie does not give up without a fight.

To us, these stories are entertaining yarns of bravery, resourcefulness, trickery, love, and loyalty. To medieval folk, they were as true as a Bible story is to a Christian. These tales might have resonated more because the characters are ordinary working people, and other than the miller inexplicably forgetting his wife is pregnant, they are a lot like us.

Sources

“The Nixie of the Mill-Pond” collected by the brothers Grimm (http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm181.html)

“The Water Nixie” (http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm079.html)

Rivers: A Very Short Introduction by Nick Middleton

Giants, Monsters, and Dragons: An Encyclopedia of Folklore, Legend, and Myth by Carol Rose

Folklore, Volume 18, Volume 27, Issue 137 of 1890- : Publications - Folk-lore Society, v. 27, editors: Joseph Jacobs, Alfred Trübner Nutt, Arthur Robinson Wright, William Crooke

Kim Rendfeld explores religion, warfare, justice, and love in her novels set in eighth century Francia: The Cross and the Dragon, in which a young noblewoman contends with a jilted suitor and the fear of losing her husband in battle, and The Ashes of Heaven’s Pillar, where a mother will go to great lengths to protect her children. To read an excerpt and the first chapter of either book, visit kimrendfeld.com. You’re also welcome to check out her blog Outtakes of a Historical Novelist at kimrendfeld.wordpress.com, like her on Facebook at facebook.com/authorkimrendfeld, or follow her on Twitter at @kimrendfeld, or contact her at kim [at] kimrendfeld [dot] com.

Myth & Folklore: Ghosts & Ghouls of Ancient Rome

by Heather Domin

For the Romans, the supernatural was as real as any other part of the world around them. Spirits were everywhere, affecting everything, and could be roughly divided into three categories. Gods and demi-gods comprised one group, including the nymphs inhabiting natural places and the spirits embodying Roman virtues. The souls of the dead comprised another: lares acted as benevolent and helpful guardian spirits, while lemures harassed the living in retaliation for unsettled scores. If a lare's family failed to honor them properly, they might make the switch to lemur, so it behooved Romans to keep the dearly departed happy; there was even a special holiday, the Lemuria, for placating angry souls and coaxing them back onto your side. The third group included supernatural beings who were neither ghost nor god: monsters, creatures, and demons, including Halloween staples like witches, werewolves, and vampires.

Erictho by John Mortimer

Witches were a particular concern for the ancient Romans, who believed strongly in the power of spells, curses, and ill omens. Magic itself was not seen as evil, but dark magic could be diabolical indeed. Creatures like sirens and harpies used magic to ensnare mortals, but much more frightening were stories of humans – usually women – who were so skilled in sorcery that they were transformed into demonic beings. The poet Lucan told the story of one such witch, Erictho, whom "even the gods feared" – her hobbies included necromancy, eating dead bodies, cutting fetuses from wombs and burning them, stealing offerings from funeral pyres to use in curses, and making out with corpses while whispering messages to the underworld down their throats. Yikes.

As for werewolves, Virgil, Pliny, and Ovid all mention them, but they're not quite the same as the modern-day version. Their werewolves were humans who'd been turned into wolves as a punishment for some heinous crime, usually cannibalism. The werewolf legend in Rome was less of a monster story than a symbol of barbarism, of savages who were neither human nor beast but something in between. The Greek historian Herodotus wrote of a Slavic tribe who transformed into wolves once every year and danced beneath the moon, but that's as close to the modern werewolf as the legend got. The word "lycanthrope", however, does come from the Greco-Roman myth of Lycaon, a king who was transformed into a wolf for killing his own son. 

The Lamia
by John Waterhouse

The Roman vampire was the lamia. The name comes from the Greek myth of Lamia, Queen of Libya, who was turned by Hera into a child-eating demon; the Romans, as per usual, took the story and created their own version, a supernatural seductress who killed not children but young, virile men. Lamiae would hang out in isolated places like marshes or lonely roads, where they would seduce travelers and then drink their blood or consume their life force. They might also appear in dreams, a forerunner of the medieval succubus. As in many vampire legends, lamiae symbolized unbridled female sexuality; in Pre-Raphaelite and Romantic art they were used to represent courtesans, mistresses, or other wanton women, often combined with snake imagery (see John Keats' poem "Lamia", where she is half woman, half snake), a cruel temptress sucking the life out of some poor innocent man. 

But while there were enough legends of ghosts, ghouls, and goblins to scare the subligar off any ancient Roman, only the lemures had their own holiday. For the Romans, of all the things that go bump in the night, the scariest were not vampires, zombies, or werewolves, but disgruntled grandparents. If you kept your ancestors happy, they would make sure none of these other creepy-crawlies could get to you.

---

Heather Domin has been an Unusual Historicals contributor since 2011. She is the author of The Soldier of Raetia, set in Augustan Rome, and Allegiance, set in 1920s Dublin. Her newest title, The Heirs of Fortune (sequel to Soldier of Raetia) will be released on November 30.

Author Interview & Book Giveaway: Carol McGrath on THE BETROTHED SISTER

This week, we're welcoming author Carol McGrath again, whose latest title is THE BETROTHED SISTER, book #3 of The Daughters of Hastings trilogy. One lucky visitor will get a free copy of The Betrothed Sister. Be sure to leave your email address in the comments of today's author interview for a chance to win. Winner(s) are contacted privately by email. Here's the blurb.

It is 1068 and led by Countess Gytha the Godwin royal women are about to set out into exile after the Siege of Exeter. Princess Thea, known to history as Gita is King Harold’s eldest daughter and the book’s engaging protagonist. She carries revenge in her heart for the Normans who killed her father at the Battle of Hastings. Once in Demark her uncle, the king, betroths her to a most eligible prince, his third wife’s nephew, Vladimir of Kiev. Will her betrothal and marriage bring her happiness, as she confronts enemies from inside and outside Rus territories? Will she prove herself the courageous princess she surely is, win her husband’s respect and establish her independence in a society protective towards its women?

**Q&A with Carol McGrath**

Can You Explain a little of the background to The Betrothed Sister?

The Betrothed Sister is the story of King Harold II’s elder daughter. After The Battle of Hastings, we lose track of King Harold’s immediate family. I cannot be sure with whom Harold’s elder daughter lived before 1068 and her exile. She did travel with her grandmother and brothers into exile in Denmark. This is recorded history. Her mother is not mentioned after a reference in The Waltham Chronicle which says that Edith Swan-neck identified her hand-fasted husband’s body on the battlefield of Senlac Hill, known as The Battle of Hastings, by marks only known to her. This was written a half century after the events on the basis of memory. Edith shows up in a mention in John of Worcester as having entered a nunnery. It is my suggestion that Thea-Gytha and thus Gita to the Rus, accompanied the noble ladies of Exeter into exile following William the Conqueror’s siege of that city in 1068. They are documented in The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as having first travelled to Flatholm, an island in the Severn Estuary. Later that year they travelled to Flanders. Thea continued with her grandmother and brothers to Denmark. The journey out is where The Betrothed Sister opens. The Godwin Diaspora is fascinating and its women are the subject of The Daughters of Hastings Trilogy. The books are linked but they are also stand-alone. This one is my personal favourite.

How did you go about researching The Betrothed Sister?

I read Slavonic Studies at University. I have a knowledge of Russian language. I know where to seek out information as a result and researched in the Oxford Bodliean and The Oxford Slavonic Studies library. I found information in The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, more in John of Worcester’s Chronicle and fascinating information about life in Kyiv in the Russian Primary Chronicle. These women are like shadows. At best they get tiny mentions. I looked at secondary source material to fill in the gaps and imagine their lives. I delved into what it was like to be a Rus noblewoman in the 11thC. For example, I discovered that they lived protected lives, more so than their English equivalents, in a palace or kremlin Terem, not to be confused with harem, since Rus princes were generally deeply religious and indeed were allegedly monogamous. Women were very valued as the Rus law codes of the period show. Read the book and find out how this worked. In addition to this research I visited the Viking Exhibition in London. That was informative as was a trip to Iceland, as alas Kyiv was off limits. Books I read on this period in Denmark fed into the story of Thea’s betrothal. Kyiv (Kiev) is on the Dnieper and major trade routes. All this is absorbed into a thrilling adventure historical story.

Any surprises?

Yes, I discovered that Elizaveta, wife of Harold Harthrada who was defeated and killed by King Harold married Sweyn King of Denmark. This information has been researched by Russian Medieval scholar, Janet Martin. Her books are excellent. You can see the connections between the Danish court and that of Kiev post 1066. It was an historical titbit as Thea’s father was responsible for Harthrada’s death.  Harthrada’s daughter was also married to one of Sweyn’s sons. I easily found themes of jealousy and revenge to work out through the novel.

Which part of the research interested you most?

The Viking Exhibition in London and Rus weddings are interesting. The concept of the Rusnyk embroidery fascinated me. Women recorded important events from their lives in embroidery. This also contributed to the Tapestry theme throughout these novels.

What Next?

Before I embark on a new Medieval Trilogy I am writing a stand-alone novel about an early Tudor lady who is another historical shadow. I cannot reveal her identity yet but this novel contains intrigue and the imagined life of a London woman merchant circa 1509-20.

Thank you to Unusual Historicals for hosting me today.

The series is available at Amazon.com and amazon.co.uk and from all good bookshops

Learn more about author Carol McGrath

https://www.facebook.com/daughtersofhastings

http://scribbling-inthemargins.blogspot.gr/

http://www.goodreads.com/author/dashboard

Follow me on Twitter @carolmcgrath

http://pinterest.com/carol0275/

www.carolcmcgrath.co.uk

Excerpt Thursday: THE BETROTHED SISTER by Carol McGrath

This week, we're welcoming author Carol McGrath again, whose latest title is THE BETROTHED SISTER, book #3 of The Daughters of Hastings trilogy. Join us again on Sunday for an author interview, with more details about the story behind the story. One lucky visitor will get a free copy of The Betrothed Sister. Be sure to leave your email address in the comments of today's post or Sunday's author interview for a chance to win. Winner(s) are contacted privately by email. Here's the blurb.

It is 1068 and led by Countess Gytha the Godwin royal women are about to set out into exile after the Siege of Exeter. Princess Thea, known to history as Gita is King Harold’s eldest daughter and the book’s engaging protagonist. She carries revenge in her heart for the Normans who killed her father at the Battle of Hastings. Once in Demark her uncle, the king, betroths her to a most eligible prince, his third wife’s nephew, Vladimir of Kiev. Will her betrothal and marriage bring her happiness, as she confronts enemies from inside and outside Rus territories? Will she prove herself the courageous princess she surely is, win her husband’s respect and establish her independence in a society protective towards its women?

**An Excerpt from The Betrothed Sister**

Chapter One

Thea glanced up at the thin, fragile moon. Despite all that had happened since the Normans stole England, anticipation gripped her. By the time that moon grew fat again they would be settled in their new home. She moved her lips in prayer to her name-day saint, St Theodosia. ‘Gracious lady, grant us a warm hall, fine furniture and new clothing, and take a care for my brother Magnus.’ Surely her saint would answer her prayer.

Yet, Thea did not confess to her saint her deepest and most secret wish. She wanted revenge on William the Bastard. She wanted revenge not only on him but on his whole House for his destruction of her father, the kidnap of her brother Ulf by William, her mother’s seclusion and the murder of her brother, Magnus. If St Theodosia knew what lay in her heart, she knew it already. Thea wanted vengeance and until she had it, her life would never be complete again. One day, the Bastard, William of Normandy, false king of England, would die an ignoble death, unloved by his children and preferably in great pain because she, Thea, daughter of the great King Harold, wanted him to suffer for what he had done to her family. And, she added this to her thought – one day she would marry a warrior prince who hated the Normans as much as she did and who would help her brothers recover their kingdom. She started. Voices were falling towards them, dropping from the direction of the cliff below the monastery, coming closer.

She twisted round to see the rest of their women following a monk who was swinging a lantern. Their ladies, who were wrapped in their warmest woollen mantles, came in a snaking line down the cliff path to the beach. All of them, even the five children, were carrying small bundles. When the group reached the shingle, the women gathered up cloaks and skirts and bunching the thick escaping material into their hands they began wading out to climb into the fleet of skiffs. Edmund and Padar, their warrior poet, took an arm here and a hand there. They lifted the older women, swinging in turn each of a tiny band of confused children from one to the other over the lapping water. Finally they deposited the women and their offspring into the assorted fishing craft that would ferry them to the big-sailed ships which were to carry them over the Narrow Sea.

The series is available at Amazon.com and amazon.co.uk and from all good bookshops

Learn more about author Carol McGrath

https://www.facebook.com/daughtersofhastings

http://scribbling-inthemargins.blogspot.gr/

http://www.goodreads.com/author/dashboard

Follow me on Twitter @carolmcgrath

http://pinterest.com/carol0275/

www.carolcmcgrath.co.uk

Myth & Folklore: Where Did Mighty Achilles Get his Start?

By Judith Starkston

When I wrote my novel, Hand of Fire, set within the Trojan War, I thought a lot about Achilles, that troublesome hunk of a hero first mentioned in Homer’s Iliad, but popularized in countless stories and media. He was the greatest of the Greek warriors in the Trojan War. My novel focuses on Briseis, the woman Achilles took captive after sacking her city. Their relationship is at the core of my story. I used my imagination to bring Achilles to life, but I also did some historical digging.

The ruins of Troy with the plain

In the last couple of decades, we’re finding more reasons to see some accurate history in the legends of the Trojan War (Here is one link on that topic and here's another). It’s not such a leap that the heroes who fought on the plain of Troy were originally real men who lived and breathed. But there’s also been an infusion of myth and legendary grandeur into these heroes. For example, Achilles’ mother is said to be the powerful sea goddess Thetis who freed Zeus, King of the gods, when the rest of the Olympians ganged up on him. That’s some parentage. So where did Achilles’ mythological tradition originate?

Myth and legendary heroes are a lot like archaeological digs. They have many layers of complex elements that they acquire over time. I think the Hittite myth of the warrior god Telipinu accounts for part of the Achilles tradition—perhaps its starting point in the shift from man into myth.

Much of “Greek” mythology actually has its origins in various Near Eastern traditions, so it isn’t surprising to find portions of Achilles’ story arising on the eastern side of the Aegean. Moreover, the Hittites were the dominant empire surrounding Troy (in what is now Turkey) during the time when the Achilles legend would have started. The Greeks of Achilles’ time had major interactions with the Hittites. The oral tradition that reworked the stories of the Trojan War and Achilles developed over a thousand years and came to a final form around 750 BC in this same region and spans both the rise and fall of the Hittite Empire. I think the oral bards were influenced by the myth of Telipinu as they gradually took the historical reality that lies behind the Trojan War and turned it into a spellbinding tale that eventually became the Iliad we know today. 

So why do I think this? Listen for the correlations between the Greek and Hittite stories.

Here are the relevant key pieces of the Achilles’s story as we have it from the Greeks:

Achilles as healer, Attic red figure vase

1. As I noted, Achilles has divine parentage, a semi-divine status greater than that of other sons of gods, who are strong but not preeminent over all others in battle

2. Achilles becomes angry at an insult from one of the other Greek kings, Agamemnon, and withdraws from the battlefield

3. The Greek word Homer uses for Achilles’ anger means cosmic, divine anger, not the ordinary sort. When Achilles withdraws from the battle the Greeks die in droves

4. Achilles’ presence brings well being for his men, his absence destruction. The Greeks send a delegation to persuade him to come back to the fighting so they don’t all die.

5. When Achilles goes back into battle after the death of his friend, he battles a river and burns both it and its riverbanks up in the process (with some divine assistance)

6. Besides his killing prowess, Achilles is known as a healer, one who preserves life

Here are some parallel elements taken from Harry Hoffner’s translation of the Telipinu myth in Hittite Myths (Society of Biblical Literature, Ancient World Series, 1998)

Hittite Warrior god, Telipinu type

1. Telipinu is the divine son of the Stormgod. His divine skill involves making the crops grow and rains come, as well as being a warrior. He has a particularly powerful role in the well being of humans

2. Telipinu is offended by either one or more of the other gods' "intimidating words" and withdraws in anger. His father says, "My son Telipinu became enraged and removed everything good."

3. Once Telipinu withdraws, the damage is cosmic in reach. "The mountains and trees dried up, so that shoots do not come forth. The pastures and springs dried up, so that famine broke out in the land. Humans and gods are dying of hunger."

4. The gods send different delegations, including a bee and an eagle, to entice Telipinu back so that everyone doesn't die. 

5. In one version of the myth, once the gods try to bring Telipinu back, he becomes "even more angry" and he destroys springs, rivers, brooks and riverbanks.

6. When Telipinu returns, plenty, abundance and fecundity also return. The human and sheep mothrs bear offspring and the king has longevity. Telipinu heals all the damage. 

I think this infusion of a tragic Hittite god helps explain the evolution of Achilles into the torn and anguished hero we find in Homer. By nature, Achilles is all-powerful and protective, and yet he causes devastation and dies engulfed in grief.

So the next time you hear someone celebrating “Western Civilization,” you might remind yourself that, in fact, from the beginning, our most iconic heroes and ideas arose from an active interaction between all parts of the ancient world. The notion of an east/west split is an anachronism we’d do better to leave behind.
_________________________________________________________

Judith Starkston writes historical fiction and mysteries set in Troy and the Hittite Empire. She is a classicist (B.A. University of California, Santa Cruz, M.A. Cornell University) who taught high school English, Latin and humanities. She and her husband have two grown children and live in Arizona with their golden retriever Socrates. Her debut novel is Hand of Fire.

Find an excerpt, book reviews, historical background, as well as on-going information about the historical fiction community on www.JudithStarkston.com

Follow Judith Starkston on FB and Twitter   

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Author Interview & Book Giveaway: Shauna Roberts on CLAIMED BY THE ENEMY

This week, we're pleased to welcome author SHAUNA ROBERTS with her latest release, CLAIMED BY THE ENEMY, set in ancient times. One lucky visitor will get a free copy  of Claimed by the Enemy. Be sure to leave your email address in the comments of today's author interview for a chance to win. Winner(s) are contacted privately by email. Here's the blurb.

Crown Princess Nindalla knows the terrifying power of Sargon of Akkad's army: Ten years ago, it destroyed her home city and killed her parents. Now the nightmare is happening again. The Akkadians conquer her new home, Susa; make her a widow; and strip her of her rank. Nindalla vows to protect her children from her enemies by any means necessary, including marrying whoever can shield them best. With plots swirling around her, can she trust her instincts to tell friends from foes?

Farm boy Ur-sag-enki was forced to become a soldier in the Akkadian army ten years ago after it destroyed his home and left him with nothing. When the Akkadians conquer Susa, he is awarded its governorship. He looks forward to settling down to the normal family life he craves. First, though, he must keep control of Susa despite enemies who exploit his inexperience, and he must gain legitimacy by persuading beautiful former princess Nindalla to marry him. But can he win her heart when it was his hand that struck down her husband? 

Winner of the 2014 National Readers Choice Award for "Novel with Romantic Elements."

Winner of the 2015 Romancing the Novel Published Author Contest in the "Ancient/Medieval/Renaissance" category.

**Q&A with Shauna Roberts**

As a child, what did you want to do when you grew up?

When I was in elementary school, I wanted to be a baseball player—I rejected sexually stereotyped behavior from an early age, much to the despair of my mother—or a missionary. In sixth or seventh grade, I was interested in joining a time-travel agency. I figured it would be based in NASA, so I wrote to NASA and asked to be put on a list to be one of their time travelers. They sent back some nice color brochures on space travel.

What are some jobs you have held?

I have worked as a store clerk, receptionist, secretary, playground supervisor, switchboard operator, archaeologist, production person at a newspaper, production person at a magazine, data entry person, magazine writer, magazine editor, copyeditor, teacher, and now fiction writer.

Where did your love of books come from?

Everyone is born loving stories, I believe. What separates humans from other species is the arts: storytelling, music, painting, personal adornment, sculpture; perhaps religious ritual should be put in the category of art as well. We’ve been telling stories and making music and wearing jewelry at least since our beginnings as a species. Scientists have collected evidence that our brains are hardwired to understand the world as a series of stories.

Our society provides stories in many forms, and people get siphoned away from reading books to exchanging gossip and watching television series, movies, baseball games, and boxing. I stayed a book reader for several reasons. The quality of stories was usually better; my aunt, a librarian, gave me many wonderful books for birthdays and Christmas; and I advanced quickly as a reader, so by second grade I checking out the much more interesting books from the sixth-grade section of the library.

What do you read in your spare time?

I’m one of those people who loves to read so much that I’ll read the sides of cereal boxes. But given a choice, my favorite genres of books (listed in no particular order) are historical mystery, historical fiction, fantasy, science fiction, ancient and Medieval history, biography, and gardening.

Are there underrepresented ideas in your books?

As an anthropologist, I find that speculative fiction and historical fiction often give short shrift to the parts of life that through most of human existence have been most important. Religion, for example: Religious observance shaped the course of the day, week, month, and year, and religious belief underlay cultural practices and personal moral choices, yet in most historical fiction, religion plays a minor role or no role at all.

Knowledge of and closeness to the natural world is another example. In almost every era and place, people worked outside, even doing chores outside that could have been done in the home. People knew the names of trees, animals, plants, etc., and their uses. The positions of the sun, moon, and stars had meaning. People knew they were part of nature; every dead relative’s decaying body they washed and dressed was a stark reminder. Yet characters in historical fiction and fantasy set in unindustrialized societies too often have the same lack of awareness of the natural world that characterizes modern Americans who spend their days inside.

The arts, of course, form the core of human personality and organize the world, yet are missing from most fiction.

To me, a book is much less interesting if it isn’t accurate to the time period and technology level. So I try to plan my own stories with my anthropologist glasses on, making sure the society is consistent with the geology and geography, that the multifold parts of the culture mesh together believably, and that people’s beliefs are consistent with their knowledge of the world. I spend a lot of time worldbuilding before I start to write.

Why did you choose to write in your genres?

When I first tried my hand at fiction, it seemed logical to write in one of the fictional genres I read most at the time: historical mystery, science fiction, and fantasy. How to put together a mystery was a mystery to me; fantasy and science fiction seemed much easier. 

I started writing historical fiction because nobody was writing the historical fiction I most wanted to read.

Dark chocolate, milk chocolate, or white chocolate?

Dark chocolate, definitely. When I come back from Europe or Canada, my suitcase has lots of the dark chocolate bars we can’t get here.

 Learn more about author Shauna Roberts

Website and blog:  http://www.ShaunaRoberts.com

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