Interview: Judith Starkston

Today I'm pleased to Welcome Judith Starkston to the blog to talk about her new book, "Hand of Fire." 

But first, a little about "Hand of Fire." 

The Trojan War threatens Troy’s allies and the Greek supply raids spread. A young healing priestess, designated as future queen, must defend her city against both divine anger and invading Greeks. She finds strength in visions of a handsome warrior god; will that be enough when the half-immortal Achilles attacks? Hand of Fire, a tale of resilience and hope, blends history and legend in the untold story of Achilles’s famous captive, Briseis. 

In the Iliad, Homer gives only a few lines to Briseis, the captive woman who sparked the bitter conflict between Achilles and Agamemnon. Hand of Fire brings Briseis to life against this mythic backdrop. Thrust into leadership as a young woman, she must protect her family and city. Sickness and war threaten. She gains much-needed strength from visions of a handsome warrior god, but will that be enough when the mighty, half-immortal Achilles attacks? 

1. What inspired you to write this book?

It may sound strange, but I began to write in order to answer a question that had bothered me for a long time. For years I’d taught the Iliad, Homer’s epic poem of the Trojan War, and kept wondering with my students how Briseis, the captive woman who sparked the bitter conflict between Achilles and Agamemnon, could possibly have loved Achilles.

The Greek had killed her husband and brothers, destroyed her city and turned her from princess to slave—hardly a heartwarming courtship. She is central to the plot and yet she gets only a handful of lines. In those few words, the one clear notion expressed is her sorrow when she is forced to leave Achilles.

I should say I always liked Achilles, the existential hero who calls the whole war into question—which shows he’s no brainwasher—so the answer wasn’t some ancient version of Stockholm Syndrome.

2. Would you classify your writing more as plot driven or character driven?

Hand of Fire is very much character driven. I wanted to figure out who Briseis could have been—after a while she became very real to me and when I found myself struggling with a scene it usually meant I was trying to make Briseis do something that simply wasn’t in her nature.

Achilles stumped me for the longest time. He’s larger than life, half-immortal and deeply conflicted. In an early version I had him as one of the point-of-view characters, but it didn’t work. I couldn’t hear his voice. I finally wrote his part of the story as epic poetry in iambic pentameter, which is the closest I could get in English to the hexameter verse of Homer. Once I used a medium that was mythological and writ large, he gradually revealed himself. Later I used that understanding to remove the poetry and slide in his character in the more standard format of scenes.

The manuscript I’m working on now is a mystery and for that I find I had to develop a plot outline early on, but even so the characters keep shifting that plot around to suit themselves. Characters are a very bossy lot once you let them get into your imagination.

3. Can you tell us a little about your main character?
   

Briseis is essential to the plot of the Iliad, and yet we only know that she was a princess captured by Achilles. To develop who she was I needed both an understanding of what she could plausibly have done in the course her life and her inner psychology.

Intriguingly, the world Briseis lived in—the details of its everyday life, religious beliefs, language, etc. have only come to light recently—dug from the earth by contemporary archaeologists. The cuneiform libraries of ancient Anatolia (modern Turkey) and the Hittite Empire, where Troy and Briseis’s city of Lyrnessos were situated, have begun to be translated and provided the material I needed. I discovered in the evidence a powerful role for Briseis, that of a healing priestess, called in Hittite a hasawa.

That role made perfect sense for a woman who fell in love with Achilles, the warrior who is also a healer and a bard. The stories—one taken from clay-recorded history and one from mythology—meshed and a strong-willed redhead began to form in my imagination.

Briseis is a smart young woman in an ancient culture that, counter to our modern stereotypes of the past, expects her to be powerful, literate and a leader. Briseis succeeds in rising to those expectations despite the circumstances arrayed against her—and she’s strong enough to take on the mightiest of the Greek heroes.

4. Without giving away too much, tell us a little about the main conflict in this book.

There’s conflict on two levels, as is often the case. A Greek army attacks and destroys most of what Briseis holds dear—battles, raids and rape make for vivid external conflict, but there’s the inner side of that violence also. I was very interested in how some people, women especially, can survive great tragedy and violence against them, even managing to take delight in what life still has to offer. Part of that inner survival for Briseis involves coming to terms with Achilles—the man who slaughtered her loved ones and yet offers her love. Can she return that feeling without destroying herself?

5. What do you hope readers take away from your book?

Despite being a book about war with a lot of death and violence, the fundamental theme of Hand of Fire is one of hope. I think people will come away with a renewed sense of the resiliency of humanity and of women in particular.

Also, my aim was to build the Bronze Age world of these Greeks and Trojans vividly enough that readers feel like they’ve lived there. For most people, that’s a new and exotic world and yet it will feel surprisingly familiar in some ways. I guess you could call Hand of Fire historical escapism with a positive message.

6. Now for a few fun questions! What song best describes your writing style?

Instead of a particular song, I guess I’ll go with a jazz improvisation. You hear familiar tunes from other times and places—I use mythology and history throughout—and as far as how I compose, I meander all over and then find my rhythm eventually.

Follow the Hand of Fire Tour!

7. Night Owl or Early Bird?

Definitely an early bird. By evening I’m brain dead. It takes some serious caffeine to fire my mental and physical engines in the morning, and walking my golden retriever helps jiggle me awake, but I get my best work done first thing in the morning.

8. Skittles or M&M’s?

I would be thrown out of my family if I ever sided with anything other than chocolate.

9. Who are your favorite authors?

I dread this question because it’s like choosing among your children. The truth is frequently that my favorite author is whomever I’m reading at the moment.

Major influences include Victorian writers like George Eliot, Wilkie Collins and Charlotte Bronte, and in Greek lit, the Iliad, obviously, and there I’d recommend the Lombardo translation to anyone giving Homer a try.

Among contemporary writers here’s a somewhat random list of authors I’ve really loved that also reveals my various reading personalities: P.D. James, Priscilla Royal, Ellen Feldman, Rhys Bowen, Kelli Stanley, Rebecca Cantrell, Nancy Bilyeau, Elizabeth Speller, Geraldine Brooks, Jacqueline Winspear, Alice McDermott and Isabel Allende.

10. Can you tell us about your future projects?

I’m in the middle of a historical mystery featuring the Hittite Queen Puduhepa as “sleuth.” She would be as famous as Cleopatra if she hadn’t been buried by the sands of time. Her seal is on the first extant peace treaty in history next to her foe, Pharaoh Ramses II. Now that she’s been dug out, I’ve taken her remarkable personality, which seems perfectly suited for solving mysteries, and I am writing a series. She ruled from her teens until she was at least eighty, so I think this series may outlast me.

Hand of Fire will be followed by at least one sequel and possibly a prequel of sorts focusing on Iphigenia and Achilles. This spring I made a research trip to Cyprus because the sequel to Hand of Fire will end up there—but it’d be a spoiler if I revealed how or why. (Also I’d have to know the answer to both of those and I’m not entirely sure yet…) Suffice to say Cyprus is a beautiful and dramatic island with a density of Bronze Age archaeological sites that is almost alarming. My husband and I had a delightful trip and maybe that’s reason enough.

  

Meet the Author

Judith Starkston writes historical fiction and mysteries set in Troy and the Hittite Empire. Her novel, Hand of Fire (Fireship Press September 2014), tells Briseis’s story, the captive woman who sparked the bitter conflict between Achilles and Agamemnon in the Iliad. Starkston 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.

An excerpt from Hand of Fire, book reviews, ancient recipes, historical tidbits as well as on-going information about the historical fiction community can be found on Starkston’s website www.judithstarkston.com. You can also connect with Judith Starkston on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/judy.starkston) or on Twitter (https://twitter.com/JudithStarkston).

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Praise for Hand of Fire

Advance Praise:

“But what is the difference between a good historical novel and a brilliant one?
I suggest you read Judith Starkston’s Hand of Fire and you’ll discover the answer." Helen Hollick, Historical Novels Review Editor and author of Forever Queen

"In Hand of Fire, Starkston's careful research brings ancient Greece and Troy to life with passion and grace. This haunting and insightful novel makes you ache for a mortal woman, Briseis, in love with a half-god, Achilles, as she fights to make her own destiny in a world of capricious gods and warriors. I devoured this page-turning escape from the modern world!" -- Rebecca Cantrell, New York Times bestselling author of The World Beneath

“In her portrayal of Briseis, Judith Starkston has cast a bright light on one of the Iliad's most intriguing sub-plots. With her fast-paced story, three-dimensional characters, and fascinating cultural details, Starkston has given historical fiction fans a tale to remember.” –Priscilla Royal, author of Covenant with Hell

Guest Post: Carolyn Niethammer

 Why Writing Historical Fiction Is So Much Fun

By Carolyn Neithammer

While readers can learn a great deal from historical fiction, the genre is even more of a treat for writers. What a great opportunity to dive deeply into all sorts of  handwritten manuscripts and forgotten books to search out the perfect gem that will bring our characters alive.

My novel The Piano Player features two female characters making their way in the turn-of-the-century West. The story begins in 1882 Tombstone, a small town in Arizona Territory that served the nearby ranchers and silver miners. I wanted my readers to smell the dust that the horses kicked up, to feel the heat of an Arizona summer, experience what it was like for a single woman to live in a dusty frontier town full of men. To steep myself in what it was like for these women, I read every extant copy of The Tombstone Epitaph the newspaper of the day. The original copies are too fragile for much handling, so I scrolled through microfilm.

Gunfights are the first thing that comes to mind regarding Tombstone history, but in fact there were very few. What people don’t know was that Tombstone at that time had the best food between St. Louis and San Francisco. The menus published in the paper confirmed the fact that French food ruled with offerings of fresh oysters, lobster, six salads, five roasts, four different pies and three puddings all at one restaurant on one Sunday. Because one of my characters, the historic Nellie Cashman owned the renowned Russ House, the food she cooked figures prominently in the novel.

Since stagecoach travel was still common during that period where the railroads didn’t reach, I had to try that myself  in Tombstone and wherever else I could find an old stage operating. It might have been a little touristy, and just going around the block in no way approximated what it would have been like to have been stuffed into one day after sweltering day, but it was great fun.

The second character, the piano player of the title, is Mary Rose, a fashionable young woman who needed to support herself and found a job playing the piano at the Bird Cage Theater. We learn the story through her “memoir.” Discovering what might be in her wardrobe led to an enjoyable afternoon in the historical society library looking over old ladies’ magazines with pictures and descriptions of bustles and bows and laces. Then there were the fabulous hats. And that was just the outerwear. The under garments were even more fascinating calling for layer upon layer of fine batiste and corsets with whalebone and laces.

Nellie Cashman had mining interests in Alaska and Yukon Territory where the second half of the novel takes place. I visited a friend in Fairbanks and went to look at the old mining records. Down in a locked cage in the courthouse basement, in huge dust-covered books no one had looked at in decades, I found my character’s signature when she signed for her claims. Here was her actual handwriting. A chill went down my back. Did it ultimately make a difference to what I wrote about her? Probably not, but it sure was fun.

After leaving Fairbanks, I took a bus east across Alaska to Dawson City, and out to Nolan Creek

where Nellie Cashman mined. Each claim on those creeks was entitled to only so many feet, so I figured out approximately where her claim was. I sat on a rock in the summer sun and willed her spirit to speak to me, to help me make her character come alive. Alas, no appearance from the other side with guidance on my project

When I was a young newspaper reporter, I used to tell people that I liked the job because it gave me a license to be nosy. With writing historical fiction, it’s the same thing except dialed back a hundred years. Now all this research has been woven into  The Piano Player in which well-bred Mary Rose follows her dream to Tombstone and quickly discovers that her sheltered life has not prepared her for the challenges of being a saloon piano player. She becomes Frisco Rosie and finds help comes from her landlady, Nellie Cashman, who runs the boarding house where she lives. It is an unlikely friendship. Years after each has left Tombstone, they join up again to seek their fortunes during the Alaska gold rush. Together they deal with a lover who turns out to be a murderer, imprisonment in a Mexican jail, near death falling into the icy Yukon River and disappointment when their quest for gold is dashed. They postpone romance with the men who love them until for one, it becomes too late.

Apparently I managed to use my research to evoke the era as one reader wrote in a review: “The main character in The Piano Player is the wild West itself….”

More About the Author

Carolyn Niethammer grew up in the territorial capital of Prescott, Arizona, and now lives in Tucson in a downtown historic district. She has lived in Africa three times with her professor husband but remains firmly rooted in the West. She is the author of nine nonfiction books on southwestern subjects including five cookbooks, two biographies, a travel guide, and a book on Native American women. The Piano Player is her first novel. Find her at www.cniethammer.com and on Facebook.

(sorry, no twitter.  My blog deals with Southwest food and is related to my earlier works, haven’t got one started on the Old West yet.)


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Interview: JoAnn Smith Ainsworth

Today I'm Pleased to welcome Joann Smith Ainsworth to the blog to talk about her novel, "Expect Trouble." 

First... A little about "Expect Trouble."

Opening herself to ridicule by revealing she’s clairvoyant is the last thing U.S. WAVE Livvy Delacourt wants, but when Uncle Sam needs her skill to track Nazi spies, she jumps in with both feet.

Join this emotional journey through paranormal realms of fast-paced suspense and supernatural battles as U.S. Navy psychics pit themselves against their Nazi counterparts.

1. What was your inspiration for your book? 

I was alive in WWII and remember the family’s fear when the air raid sirens went off. I was sent to the local store with ration coupons in hand and worked in the family’s Victory Garden. These experiences make the EXPECT TROUBLE story come alive.

I lived in Philadelphia in the 1950’s. Since things didn’t change quickly back then, I decided to use that city and WWII for the setting of the Operation Delphi series.

2. Can you tell us about how your own experiences influenced this story? 

I decided to use Pennsylvania hex signs painted on Pennsylvania Dutch barns in the 1800's and early 1900s in my Work in Progress paranormal suspense manuscript. I grew up in Pennsylvania knowing that these colorful hex symbols were painted so witches would think they were windows, hit their heads against the barn wall, knock themselves out, and thus save the animals and stored crops in the barn from witchcraft. 

In the 21st century, the research books I studied went to great length to deny witchcraft and to assure us researchers that hex signs were only colorful, artistic symbols, now considered tourist attractions. 

I know better. 

2. Would you classify this series as plot driven or character driven? 

All my stories are character driven. In them, the heroine is empowered through the coming of self-awareness and self-fulfillment as she works through each crisis in the story.

3. Can you tell us a little about your main characters?

U.S. WAVES Lt.  Olivia Delacourt, the heroine, must learn that being a clairvoyant is a precious gift that can be used to help others and is not a reason for shame.

Naval Commander Barrington Drew, III, the hero, must learn that he is a man who makes his own decisions and is not an extension of his father. 

4. Without giving away too much, tell us about the main conflict. 

The U.S. government recruits psychics to ferret out Nazi spies on the East Coast during WWII.

5. What do you hope readers take away from this book? 

That no matter what the problem Life throws our way, we each have the talent and understanding to resolve it. 

6. What song best describes your writing style?

I have no idea, but I’m told my Voice is similar to that of Anne Frazier in Play Dead.

7. Night Owl or Early Bird?

Definitely an Early Bird. I’m doing my daily exercises by 5:30 or 6 a.m. and start work right afterward. 

8. Skittle or M&Ms?

Definitely M&Ms…they melt in your mouth.

9. Who are your favorite authors?

Robert B. Parker. I like the crystal clarity of his writing.

10. Can you tell us about any other future projects? 

I’m writing book 2 of the Operation Delphi series, EXPECT DECEPTION. I’ve added an evil warlock to the mix. Here is the back cover blurb:

Just when U.S. WAVE Delacourt thinks she finally has this Nazi spy chase thing under control, Hitler’s wizard adds a minor demon to the mix.

Skeptical Naval Commander Drew doesn’t believe in things he can’t touch, but when assigned to lead a psychic team, he’s forced into experiencing unseen planes.

Warlock Daryl Fergus was flattered when Hitler tapped him to disrupt U.S. war readiness, but he’s stretched to the max by unexpectedly formidable Navy psychics.

Meet the Author

When JoAnn Smith Ainsworth carried wood as a pre-teen so her Great Aunt Martha could stoke up the iron stove to prepare dinner, she wasn’t thinking, “I could use this in a novel someday.” Yet, the skills she learned from her horse-and-buggy ancestors translate into backdrops for her historical romance and paranormal suspense novels. JoAnn’s debut medieval romantic suspense novels received 4 stars from RT Book Reviews. Of her historical western romances released fall 2013, one reader said, “seamlessly, flawless writing.” Another said, 

Praise for Expect Trouble

“There was fun, excitement, adventure and so well put as a love story.” Her paranormal thriller, EXPECT TROUBLE, released July 2014. She is represented by Agent Dawn Dowdle of Blue Ridge Literary Agency. One reviewer said:  "If you like the British series The Bletchley Circle, you will enjoy this book!"   .............. Patricia Simpson, Author.

LINKS:

For more, visit:  http://www.joannsmithainsworth.com.

Twitter @JoAnnAinsworth or @JoAnnParanormal or Facebook’s JoAnn Smith Ainsworth Fan Page.

Goodreads Blog:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1366481.JoAnn_Smith_Ainsworth/blog?format=rss 

Contact her at JoAnnParanormal@gmail.com.

BUY LINKS:

Amazon - http://amzn.to/Zgbls6

Barnes & Noble - http://bit.ly/HMX2KH

Books a Million (BAM) -   http://tinyurl.com/ld8czbf 

and at an independent bookstore near you - http://www.indiebound.org/indie-bookstore-finder

Other Books By JoAnn

MATILDA'S SONG (ISBN:  978-1-60504-195-7)  / OUT OF THE DARK (ISBN:  978-1-60504-277-0) 

POLITE ENEMIES (Book 1) (ebook ISBN:  978-1-61160-636-2; print:  978-1-61160-590-7) / THE FARMER AND THE WOOD NYMPH (Book 2) (ebook ISBN:  978-1-61160-660-7; print:  978-1-61160-898-4) 

EXPECT TROUBLE (ebook ISBN:  978-161009-517-4; print:  978-1-61009-074-2)  

Review: Gideon's Secondhand Bride (Kristen Holt)

Neither John nor Millie wants another marriage, but practicality overrules everything else. John Gideon has three small children who need a mother. Millie needs somewhere to hide and someone to protect her and her son. A marriage of convenience is their best option, but when Millie's past catches up to her and their "business" arrangement stirs emotions neither of them are prepared for, they'll find themselves struggling to know what to do.

While I'm somewhat new to historical fiction, I have come to really enjoy the genre. It's a difficult genre to write well, but Holt really hit the spot with this novella.

The basis of this story truly captured the difficulties of this time period. John Gideon desperately needs help with his children, but propriety won't allow him to hire a nursemaid that lives in the house. Marriage is his only option, though it's what he wants least. Millie is fighting to survive her abusive husband. She wants to run, but has no relations that will take her in, no money, few opportunities to work, and no hope of a divorce even if proof of the abusive is shown. I loved getting this glimpse into the Post-Civil War Era on such a personal level. I'm not an expert on the details of the time period, but I felt the author did a good job of portraying it accurately so the reader felt they were taken back in time.

The characters themselves were very well crafted. The emotion each one was struggling to contain and deal with not only had depth, but a very realistic portrayal. John's guilt over developing feelings for Millie so soon after his wife's death will tear at readers' heart. I felt so bad for him, and wanted him to be happy, but I still understood why it was so hard for him. Millie was well done, also. She is scared, fearful of telling John the truth of her situation, but a good and kind person who is trying to make the best of a very difficult situation. Really, my only regret with this story was that it wasn't longer. I would have been happy to continue reading their story. I think I'll have to find a few more of Ms. Holt's books!

You can get your copy of Gideon's Secondhand Bride from Amazon

New Book: Under the Almond Trees (Linda Ulleseit)

Looking for a new historical fiction novel? Check out Linda Ulleseit's new novel "Under the Almond Trees!"

Under the Almond Trees is the story of my family – three ordinary women in California who lived extraordinary lives. 

It started with a falling tree branch that killed Ellen VanValkenburgh’s husband in 1862, forcing her to assume leadership of his paper mill, something women weren’t allowed to do. Women weren’t allowed to vote yet, either. Ellen decided that had to change, and became a suffragette. 

In 1901, Emily Williams , Ellen’s daughter-in-law, became an architect – very much against her family’s wishes. No one would hire a woman, but Emily would not be deterred. She and her life partner Lillian set out to build homes themselves. 

By the 1930’s women enjoyed more freedom, including the vote. Even so, Ellen’s granddaughter Eva VanValkenburgh chose a traditional life of marriage and children, even closing her photography business at her husband’s insistence. When he later refused to pay for their daughter’s college education, Eva followed the example of her Aunt Emily and reopened her photography business. 

I am proud to call these women family and honored to share their story.

Under the Almond Trees in Available now from 

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