A Letter to Theseus

Dear Theseus,

Can you even keep your own story straight? I would hate to be persuaded that you're a compulsive liar, and that's why your history got so screwed up, but how is it that no one can agree on which Amazon Queen you abducted married? Was it Hippolyta or Antiope? For that matter, were you with Heracles on that trip, or on your own? While I'm asking, was this Amazon Queen fighting for you or against you when the Amazons invaded Attica after you violated made off with their sovereign, got her pregnant, and then hooked up with Phaedra?

Plutarch swears up and down that your hook up with Phaedra was after the Amazon Queen's death, and the rest of those stories are just dirty lies, but he was writing a millenium after you supposedly lived, and frankly, I'm not sure I trust him not to fabricate a little truth here or there if it served his agenda, so what am I supposed to believe, here? I know that whole Ariadne business wasn't really your fault, Dionysus forced your hand, and I can even believe that the Phaedra and Hippolytus situation was the work of the gods and outside of your control, but seriously? You don't even remember the NAME of the woman who you stole, married and had a son with? I would think that if you loved her that much that you just HAD to have her, you'd at least take the time to get her name straight!

If you would be so kind as to straighten out this little misunderstanding for me, that would really make my life easier-- not to mention improve your reputation, because quite frankly, I think you're in danger of losing your heroic appeal. Real heroes remember the names of the women they fall in lust love with, after all! I'm SURE that it isn't REALLY your fault that these later historians/priests/entertainers/men couldn't be bothered to fact check the names involved, what with her being a mere woman, but it really does reflect poorly on your-- shall we say, charm? You might want to have your publicist look into it.

Your Biggest Fan,
Amalia

P.S. Nobody else seems to have these kinds of issues with THEIR heroes. I really hope that you're not wasting my time-- Thor is already threatening to pummel you, and I really think he might win if it came down to that. xoxo

Getting To Know You

Hello Followers and Friends!

Tomorrow I have a highly entertaining blogpost for those of you with a passing familiarity with Theseus, and maybe for those of you who don't, too. And thanks so much to everyone who commented and enjoyed Tuesday's post on Mycenaean clothing and fashion disasters. But for today, I just wanted to ask you all a question!

What was the first book that you read by yourself?

For me, it was Dr. Seuss's One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. I still remember the day, and how excited I was to have read a book all by myself. That made me wonder about you all, my followers! If ever there were a people gathered together who could reminisce fondly over the first book they ever read on their own, I thought that perhaps it would be you! So let's do this thing!

Today is my three-year anniversary with my husband, and we're going to celebrate by going out to eat at one of my absolute most favorite restaurants in life. (It is something of a drive.) I will not be on the blog so much to reply to comments as-they-are-posted, but I will be looking forward to reading about all the books that started us on the journey we are on now!

Mycenaean Culture!

So it occurred to me today that I have been fudging the clothing of my characters in HELEN for approximately 120,000 words now, and it was about time that I did some research to at least make sure my fudged approach was something that I could get away with, and not totally, completely beyond wrong. Nobody wants to get called out on historical accuracy over a dress, after all.

I do actually have a couple of textbooks on the Aegean Bronze Age (Christmas presents from my parents!), but for some reason they don't seem to have a lot of good pictures. This is probably because there aren't a lot of good pictures to be had, and black and white never does a fresco justice. I've talked about it a little bit before-- if not here, at least on GeekaChicas during the Not-yet-of-Troy series letters-- but we suffer from a real lack of evidence when it comes to this period. Primarily the only information we have is about palace life. There is little if any evidence regarding the common person or daily life for anyone outside of the palace, and the evidence we have for the palace itself is less about the daily life and more about societal structure. Very fortunate for me that Helen was a princess, and not some street girl. On the other hand, Sparta isn't one of the cities known for its Mycenaean Palace of Awesome. (Welcome to the clash between history and myth, our next stop will be clothing... Also, you REALLY do want to click that link, because that rendering of the palace at Pylos will blow your mind.)

As far as clothing goes, we pretty much have frescoes. Jewelry is another story--grave goods and the like have been found and preserved, probably because metal doesn't decompose. There's a good image of men's clothing in a fresco (definitely click this first link!) on this website, and a great description of both men's and women's fashions (of which I make no guarantees about the source, but it SOUNDS right to me).

Basically, men wore belted, short dress-like outfits, sometimes with short pant-like bottoms instead, which gave them freedom of movement. Common people probably went without a shirt altogether, and ran around in just a skirt or shorts. They don't seem to be all that fancy, except for detailing around the edges (image from wikimedia commons). This isn't all that different from Minoan dress-- Mycenae really kind of ripped off a lot of culture from Crete-- but in general, Mycenaean's were a little bit more conservative in style. This is more apparent in women's dress.

Contrary to later styles, Mycenaean's and Minoans wore fitted clothing. Women especially. The image to the right is from a fresco, supposedly of a Mycenaean woman. (from wikimedia commons) You can see the detailing and complicated design of the skirt (do those look like pants to anyone else?) and the top. Minoan women, as far as we know, went bare breasted. Mycenaean women did not ALWAYS follow this convention, but as you can see, it wasn't unheard of. They usually wore a belt, to emphasize the waist and the skirt was kept full and flowing. Don't ask me how that kind of a shirt is practical at all, however. It seems like it would be a pain to keep on. The image to the right gives you an idea of what a top that covered the breasts would look like (from wikimedia commons).

For the purposes of my book, I would expect that Helen dressed as conservatively as she was able-- being the most beautiful woman in the world would probably invite enough attention without showing off her breasts as well. Theseus is another issue altogether. (and if you're wondering, no, Athens didn't have a Mycenaean (or Minoan) Palace of Awesome, either.) He was, by all accounts, a very successful king for Athens (until he got thrown out after the underworld debacle). I expect when he shows up somewhere, he does it in style to show off the wealth of his city and by association, his power as its king.

Has my fudging been at all accurate? Well, yes and no. I'll probably need to go back through and tweak a few things. But honestly, there is no real way to write about the mythology of the Trojan war while maintaining BOTH historical and mythological accuracy (more on this in a future post, probably). What about you? Has there ever been an aspect of your book that you fudged, only to research and find out that you had it totally wrong?

Also, am I the only one who looked at that rendering of the Megaron of Pylos and went WHOA? Talk about opulence!

Friday Stuff!

I should know better than to post about things I find really interesting on Fridays, because my hits are totally unreliable, but I'm doing it anyway.

First Things First, Though: Dream Sequence Blogfest! Sign up! Leave a comment! Post your scene on the date! Be entered to win a prize! What are you waiting for?!

So the other day I stumbled across this link on twitter-- and I thought it was awesome. Apparently, they found some skulls, one of a knight, in some castle and decided to do a reconstruction of the knight's face. I have literally not closed the tab for days because I keep going back to stare at him and think "whoa."

AND THEN, I thought, HOW COOL WOULD IT BE if they reconstructed and rendered the faces of the vikings they found in that mass grave?!?! My friends, I want this to happen. Any of you who have connections with anyone who has connections with people who do this kind of thing, please do what you can to set it into motion. I want to see what the vikings look like when they're rendered back into CG flesh and bone. I know you do too! Who wouldn't?! Give the beheaded vikings back their faces! I think they'd like that! I bet as vikings they would be like "Hey look at that! Now when the end days come, folks will recognize us when we sweep in to fight for Odin!"

All right, I know, I can do better than that-- I didn't really think about it. Give me time and maybe I'll figure out something better. (I kind of feel a short story coming on.)

Lastly, I want to welcome all you new followers! Thanks for joining up at  Good to Begin Well! I promise that I do sometimes post more than just blogfest entries, and I do try to keep it interesting with a smorgasbord of science, history, mythology, and writing. Most of you don't really seem to care about the science stuff, but sometimes it really is cool! And I promise I won't waste your time with anything that isn't!

Any questions? Anything you're dying to know? Ask away below!

What I want to know from you is: what's your all time favorite book? (Title and Author please!)

Now that I've asked that question, I'm trying to think of what my answer is and having a heck of a time. I'll get back to you!

OH! P.S. During one of the earlier blogfests-- First Kiss maybe, or else Kissing Day Blogfest-- Someone posted a scene with a guy named Lucan. I can not for the life of me remember to whom Lucan belongs, but he is lurking about in the back of my mind and I would be TOTALLY GRATEFUL if someone could point me in the right direction!  Seriously, you are awesome, because I keep thinking about that scene, and I'd really, really, really love to read some more.

Let's Talk! Dialogue Fest!

Wow it has been blogfest central around these parts! Today is the Let's Talk Blogfest, hosted by Roni over at Fiction Groupie! I figured since I started the Thairon bandwagon, I might as well continue on. Plus, that book is kind of minimalist in style when it comes to the dialogue (read: talking heads syndromish), so it seemed fitting for this fest. Be sure to follow the link and check out the other contributors!

Thairon thought that Gwen was dead until he ran into her in the woods while on vacation--or at least a woman who looked just like her. Setta is 20 years too young, but she has all of Gwen's memories, and Thairon has no intention of losing the love of his life a second time! This scene takes place while they're still trying to figure out how to reconnect.

Stomping outside the door drew his attention. He opened it and raised an eyebrow. Setta paused in the act of removing one of her boots, looking up at him. She blushed and pulled her other boot off, setting them both outside the door.

“What did you get into?”

“The river bank is muddy.” She shrugged and slipped past him into the cabin.

He let her and shut the door again. “Aren’t you worried the wildlife will run off with your shoes?”

She laughed and walked to the kitchen sink, grabbing a glass down and pouring herself some water. “Why would they want my shoes?”

“Don’t wolves like to chew on things?”

“The wolves won’t bother my shoes.”

He raised both eyebrows at the confidence in her tone. “I guess I’ll take your word for it.”

“I guess you’ll have to.” She smiled. “What did you do this morning? Work? Aren’t you supposed to be on vacation? Who does work on vacation?”

“A lot of people. Especially when they’re CEOs of international corporations.”

“I miss your non-workaholic days.”

He grinned. “I’ll work on it. If you’ll provide me with something to come home to of distraction.”

“Hmph. We’ll see. Where’s Mr. Hale?”

“You know, he won’t be offended if you call him Marcus.”

She shrugged again and tipped back her water glass, draining it before getting herself a refill.

“I gave him the rest of the day off. Because you’re going to shout at me shortly, and I didn’t want him to have to cower in the bedroom while we went at it.”

She laughed. “Oh yeah?”

“Yes.”

“You’re sure?”

“Positive.”

“Exactly what did you do while I left you alone for four hours to make me that annoyed?”

He cleared his throat and walked around the kitchen so that the table was between them. Just in case she decided to try to scratch his eyes out. “I paid off your credit cards.”

She set the glass down. Loudly. “Excuse me?”

“You said we were going to fight about it. And I was going to win, ultimately, so I just went ahead with it.”

“How can you even do that?”

“Banks don’t care who is paying them, as long as they get paid. I called them up and told them that I wanted to pay the balances. They were more than happy to accept my money. They even offered me a line of credit, when they realized who I was.” He smirked.

She glared at him. “I’m going to pay you back.”

“If you do that, then I can’t write it off on my taxes.”

“You’re so impossible! I’m not your charity case! I thought I made that clear!”

“You’re right. You’re not my charity case. If I gave you the money I give to charities in a single year, you’d be able to live off the interest for the rest of your life.”

“That’s not the point. At all. You can’t just sweep in here and co-op my personal finances without my permission. It’s none of your business! Did it never occur to you that maybe I have something to prove? To myself? To my family?”

“Which you, Setta? Which family? And since when have you measured your success by the money you make? Take your pride out of the equation and realize that I’m going to do everything in my power to take care of you, now that I know you’re here. Whether you want it or not. Whether you want to be with me, or not. Even if it means paying for your wedding to some other man.”

“So what else then? What next? What else are you going to take from me? My choices about what I should eat for dinner? Are you going to regiment my meals, so that I have perfect nutrition, so I’ll never suffer from high cholesterol? Where does it stop?”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Oh. I’m being ridiculous. For wanting to pay my own bills. What isn’t within your power? Just so I know what you won’t be getting involved with.”

“Very little.”

“You could get me fired, couldn’t you?”

He didn’t say anything. It would have been folly to admit to it when she used that tone.

Her eyes widened and she stared at him, taking a half step back. “And blacklisted everywhere?”

“It would be more trouble than it was worth to do so.”

“But you could.” Her face was white.

He walked around the table, reaching for her. “Setta, I wouldn’t.”

She stepped back. “Wouldn’t you? If you thought that it would be better for me? If you thought it would make me happy? If you were convinced of it?”

He stopped before she backed up into the counter. He didn’t want her to feel trapped. He didn’t want her looking at him that way either. He wasn’t a monster. Or at least he wasn’t a threat to her. Never to her.

“I wouldn’t. I would never take that away from you. Taking care of your financial woes is hardly the same thing.”

She shook her head. “You can’t do this. You can’t just… You can’t just do these things without my permission.” She looked like she was going to cry, but her jaw was tight and she blinked back the moisture in her eyes. “This isn’t going to work Thairon. I can’t do this. This isn’t going to work.”

“Setta.” She was already brushing past him, on her way back to the door. He grabbed her by the arm, pulling her up short. “Gwen, wait.”

She pulled her arm away. “I’m sorry.”

And then the door slammed behind her, and she was gone.

Hope you enjoyed it! You see what I mean when I say it's kind of minimalist? I'm still trying to decide if that's a good thing or a bad one.

(You can find two other Thairon scenes, if you are so inclined, as my contributions for the Love At First Sight blogfest and the Flirt Fest!)

Flirt-Fest!

The Flirt Fest is brought to us by the wonderful women of Critique This WIP. Thanks to them for hosting, and be sure to check out the other contributions!!

It's been a long time since I gave you guys a Thairon scene, but he's definitely the most fitting choice for a flirt-fest. This particular scene takes place before the book I wrote for him, during his college days, when he's just getting to know the love of his life. It's written from her PoV, because, well...because. If you're wondering, this is the moment that Setta is referring to in the scene linked to above.

    The silence between them lasted for the duration of the drive, and she was starting to feel guilty. He parked in front of her building, but when she turned to look at him to say goodnight, he was already opening his door and getting out. She fumbled with her seat-belt to catch up with him, and he caught her door when she pushed it open, offering her a hand out.

    When she hesitated, staring at his palm, he chuckled and closed it into a loose fist, dropping his hand to his side. “You can’t say I didn’t try to be a gentleman.”

    “No. I guess I can’t.” She got out of the car and he shut the door. He walked with her to the building, then held that door for her too. “You don’t have to—”

    “I don’t have to do a lot of things, and if you were just some girl, I wouldn’t. You seem reluctant to trust anything that comes out of my mouth, though, so I’m going to have to prove myself some other way.” He smiled, but she felt as though it was more to hide his determination than anything else. “It’s all right. I’m up to the challenge.”

    She wasn’t sure what to say. His expression was so serious, and she didn’t want to offend him. Not really. Dissuade, yes, but hurt?

    She let him walk her up the stairs to her floor, and then down the hall to her dorm room. They had gathered an audience by that point, but she couldn’t bring herself to meet the eyes of the girls they passed. She could feel their appraisal. Of him, of her. The judgment and the questions. Uncomplimentary, for the most part. It was always uncomplimentary.

    Her hand on the knob, she paused and turned. He was right there, near enough that she wanted to step back, but she had nowhere to go. She took a deep breath and looked up, meeting his eyes. “Thank you for dinner.”

    He smiled, leaning down. She felt herself pressed against the door, though he didn’t touch her. “Are you sure this is what you want?”

     “What?” Having him looming over her that way was incredibly distracting, but she wasn’t sure if she wanted him to step back, or step forward.

    “Oversized stuffed animals and embarrassing bouquets of flowers.”

    She laughed, half from nerves, and gripped the door knob to keep from leaning into him. “You can’t embarrass me into liking you.”

    “And if you didn’t like me already, then I’d be concerned.”

He glanced away, at the two girls who just happened to be lined up at the water fountain. There were at least three more who had fallen silent in the lounge across the hall, she was sure. They were listening so hard, she could practically hear them, and she had a feeling that he could too. That he knew they were there, waiting to see what would happen. Waiting to see what he was to her.

    “You know what they’ll say, when you leave?”

    He raised both eyebrows, looking back at her. “What will they say?”

    “They’ll say that you’re far too good-looking for someone like me to be dating. They’ll argue about it, maybe, amongst themselves for a while. Trying to decide if you’re fair game or not. If there’s anything between us. But ultimately, they’ll think we’re just friends. Because nothing more than that is possible between people like us.”

    He grinned. “You don’t strike me as the kind of woman who lets opinions like those dictate her life.”

    “Why should I?”

    “I’ll tell you what.” He looked down and caught her hand. She let him pry her fingers gently from the door knob. “If you did, I wouldn’t be standing here. But it seems kind of unfair to disappoint them.”

    His other hand came up to her face, brushing her hair behind her ear.

    “Disappoint them?”

    And then he was kissing her, and she didn’t care anymore what he had meant.

    He pulled away too soon, and she dropped her hand back to the door knob. The traitorous hand that had made itself a fist in his jacket, trying to hold him, to pull him closer. She cleared her throat, and resisted the urge to touch her mouth. She couldn’t even bring herself to meet his eyes.

    “Breakfast tomorrow?” he asked. “Adams Hall?”

    She nodded, not sure that she could speak without sounding like a fool.

    His hand slipped away from her face, and she felt him step back. “Good night, Gwen.”

    She made herself look up, though her face was flushed with heat and her stomach felt as though it had leapt into her heart. Or maybe her heart had fallen into her stomach. He was smiling slightly, his eyes warm and searching. She bit her lip. He was much too charming for her own good, but there was no point in pretending after that kiss.

    “For the record, if you insist on some kind of embarrassing display of flowers, I like daisies.”

    He chuckled. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

    She watched him walk away down the hall, admiring the line of his shoulders, and then shook her head and let herself into her room. She didn’t know what she was doing, but she didn’t see how she was going to avoid it now. She hoped that it would lead to more kissing.

Happy Flirt-Fest! I hope this one counts as flirting :)

Hunger Games Epic Contest hosted by Frankie!

Ms. Frankie Diane Mallis the Magnificent recently signed with an agent! In honor of this spectacular achievement or awesome, she has decided to host a very Epic contest!

That's right guys, you can win the Hunger Games trilogy-- mostly signed even! (the third volume pre-ordered for you!) and all you have to do is head over to Frankie's blog and tell her what your skill would be if you were in the Hunger Games. Make sure you tell her who sent you! (Me!) and make sure you tell all your friends!

I'm pumped and hoping to win, because my current book-purchasing-rules forbid me from buying hardcovers. This means I'm waiting for The Hunger Games to come out in paperback before I pick it up, so I haven't yet read the books! Frankie's contest neatly sidesteps this rule to allow me to read them without guilt! But I can't do it without you, my followers!

Make it happen, guys! I believe in you! (Or, uhm, if you win instead of me, I will go to the library! Everybody wins!)

Contest ends Friday, May 21!

For those of you hoping to see the answer to my True or False from Tuesday:

I can't tell Left from Right without looking for my wedding ring, or picking up a pen/pencil.

The answer is in fact True! I also got totally confused and lost in a restaurant the other day, too. I depend on my husband to get me where I need to go, in and out of buildings. I'm pretty directionally impaired, and as a result, driving alone makes me pretty anxious, so I just don't do it. I guess I should have added that to my list of responses to what I would do if I were a billionaire-- hire a driver, FOR SURE.