Snap the Apple “The feast of All Saints, which was ushered in Friday evening by the old-fashioned games of ‘All Hallows’ E’en, was yesterday celebrated in the Catholic and Episcopal Churches.” San Francisco Chronicle, 1879 “It’s barmbrack cake. Beatrice has baked a ring in it, and tradition has it that the girl who… Read More »Uneasy Spirits and Halloween: Using Fact in Support of Fiction by M. Louisa Locke
Sir Richard Burton, adventurer, explorer, linguist – and much more (*) – is best known for his translation of the Kama Sutra and the collected stories of the Arabian Nights. His travels along the Pony Express route offer us a taste of the food served in the remote stations across America. Endurance and stamina was required by both the Express riders and their… Read More »Historical tidbits: What did the Pony Express riders eat? by Iva Polansky
Traditionally, books about the Roman Empire have focused on men. Male characters are the stars of the show in Ben Hur, Quo Vadis, Spartacus, The Robe, and dozens of novels published more recently. Women play bit roles, and that’s not surprising since most ancient women played bit roles in their societies. Little was written… Read More »The Hand that Rocked the Roman Cradle by Martha Marks
Someone once asked me how to overcome writer’s block. I responded that there’s no such thing. Someone else asked me where I get all my ideas. I answered by asking how she could avoid having ideas. Any time I think I’m running low on ideas, I only need to pick up a… Read More »How I Wrote the Imaginary Emperor (Or Allowed It To Write Itself) by Steve Bartholomew
Poppaea Sabina lived her life as a patrician Roman woman on a top-tier stage in the middle decades of the first century A.D. For an author researching and writing about that time period, it would be hard to ignore her flamboyant rise and catastrophic fall. Even though Poppaea’s role in Rubies… Read More »Poppaea Sabina by Martha Marks