You describe your female protagonist in A SPARTAN’S SORROW as “a mother, a queen, a villain”. I’m intrigued. Can you elaborate on that? As an author, what kind of women are you most inspired to write about? Who are some of your favorite female characters in literature? So often, people in general are given a single title. Sometimes this is linked to their professions, a teacher, a nurse, a diplomat. Sometimes we describe them by their appearance, or a single personality trait; the shy one, the redhead, etc. Even when describing friends or close acquaintances, we choose this single word, when in truth there is no person in history who can be defined in such simple terms. Though I used three terms here for Clytemnestra, she was so much more, and all those complex aspects of her are deeply interwoven. I am most inspired to write about the voices who have not been heard enough. Those that are subplots in another story when in truth, they deserve their own. I am drawn to characters who break the molds like the Amazon Queens did. In more modern literature, I love characters who fight on moral ground, like Kathy H in Never…

As we approach the long grey months of winter, this month we’ll extract from the dim past some new and fascinating versions of Ancient Greece’s legends and myths from Ancient Greece, told from the perspective of little-known participants.  Were these slaves and queens real historical characters, or only the legends from a myth?  Regardless, their stories are compelling and offer a on the dynamic of male power that is still a force today. We begin in nearer times with a more classic love story, Taylor Caldwell’s GLORY AND LIGHTNING: A NOVEL OF ANCIENT GREECE.  Born in the Greek city of Miletus to a wealthy father who refused to raise any female children, the infant Aspasia was spirited away.  Growing up in the Persian harem of Al Taliph, she is trained to become the most seductive and intelligent of courtesans. It is there that she meets and captivates Pericles, ruler of Athens. She will become his lover, confidante, friend and advisor who sees him through the political upheavals of Athens, the Peloponnesian War, revolt, and natural disasters. Based on the life of a real but obscure woman, Taylor’s novel immerses us in the richness of ancient Greek and Persian culture, where…