Sappho Sings

Digging my way out with my fingernails

2011-12-29T09:54:00.001-05:00

For 8 years now the work I love has hidden from me while I experienced every stress factor on the actuary list at lease once, usually more often. I never called it Writer’s Block because the stories were always there in completed outlines with the research mostly squared away. Instead, and with the blessings of a string of therapists, I’ve hidden behind the term PTSD.

I wish to take nothing from our valiant fighters who rightly suffer from the disease but I want to point out that PTSD is not limited to combat veterans. It can happen to anyone who experiences things their psyche cannot process. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is what happens when various events taken together or in series become too muckin fuch for our brains to process. Simply put, I lost touch with who I was.

I was my mother’s daughter until I became my husband’s wife. When I lost both of them within a brief span of time I leaned on the fact that I was still “the baby of the family” with my “big sister” to go to when life became too much. Then she died and I became the eldest living female in my extended family. My mind went numb.

Nine months later, I put my home on the market and 4 months after that I sold it and moved in with my lovely daughter mere days before Hurricane Katrina destroyed, rearranged and/or demolished everything in the five Mississippi Coast cities I’d been familiar with for over a quarter of a century. We deal less easily with change as we grow older.

Ten days less than two years after Katrina I lost my Prodigal Son in a stupid “accident'’. After that the Stress Factors seemed to arrive more swiftly. Less than two years after the loss of my son came the economically forced sale of my daughter’s beautiful, peaceful home and a move to a strange state for a brief nine months before another move to an even stranger place this time alone. I don’t know how to be alone. I ‘m not even sure I know me. Who is this person who is no longer someone’s daughter, someone’s wife or someone’s full time mother? I don’t know her and I’m not sure I will like her when I do but I have to try.

As I rapidly approach eighty, I have to remind myself that I am Peggy Ullman Bell, Author of SAPPHO SINGS, a semi-fictional biography of The Poetess of Lesbos that lived through thirty-five years of re-writes before finally becoming available to a surprisingly receptive public. Then came Women at Gettysburg FIXIN’ THINGS an overlapping thirty years of writing and re-writes because my mother still lived in the Battle area and wanted bragging rights.

Now, thanks to eBooks and the one-hundred and fiftieth anniversary of our American Civil War, FIXIN’ THINGS is selling well and it’s time I find the Author in me again. I can count the breaks between the traumas by the dates on my rare creative files. Here’s hoping I don’t break too many fingernails digging my way out of this malaise.

Blessed be, Y’all.

Excerpt from Shelf Awareness 8/8/11

2011-08-08T09:37:00.001-04:00

Putting Food & Books on the Table

"I was once having dinner with an international group, and an American was complaining about the price of books in France. 'Yes,' said a Frenchman. 'We have this silly theory in France that our authors should be able to eat.' We don't know what the future of publishing is, but we know that the future for every writer requires food. And we know that one way to help writers eat is to encourage people to buy good books."

--Tom Lutz, editor-in-chief of the Los Angeles Review of Books, in his essay "Future Tense."

The Hardest Thing to Do by Penelope Wilcock

2011-08-07T10:51:00.001-04:00

I don’t know why I chose The Hardest Thing to Do by Penelope Wilcock from the June 2011 Early Reviewer’s list on Library Thing. The book’s arrival in my mailbox was a bit of a shock.

The Hardest Thing to Do is so far from my normal reading patterns that I assumed at first glance that it would be torture for me to read and review it. How wrong I was.

Even though there is not a single female of note in the book, I found myself drawn into the story to a remarkable degree.

I write women’s history. What was I doing reading a book with no women and about monks no less so nothing salacious. Not a single sensual hint throughout and yet the writing and the characters kept my eyes glued to the pages from start to finish. Luckily for me The Hardest Thing to Do by Penelope Wilcock is not a long book. It’s a thin book without noticeable flaw. May I say congratulations for the outstanding editing?

The Hardest Thing to Do is the fourth book in Penelope Wilcock’s Hawk and Dove series. These books chronicle the events in a Benedictine monastery, and follow the monks who live their during their eventful lives.
In this fourth volume, the titular abbot (called both Peregrine and Columbe, meaning “hawk” and “dove” respectively) has passed away, and the former infirmarian, John, is away finishing the necessary training to become the new abbot, leaving the monastery in the hands of a temporary leader.

The Hardest Thing to Do takes place during Lent and shows the drastic deprivations the monks endure while preparing for the Easter when the gentle quiet of their lives will be interrupted by an influx of visitors, especially patrons upon whom the monks depend for their meager livelihood.

Enter into the tale of self-denial and introspection, a refugee from a burned out Augustinian monastery noted for its gross mistreatment of the people in their village, [many suspect arson] but also known for having mistreated their now diseased but still much beloved Father Columbe some time in the past.

Into this quagmire of discontent comes the newly minted Benedictine Abbot John, who must decide if this wayward and now homeless monk may find a new home and new brothers in this new abbey after having been turned away by everyone he sought refuse with in his long journey. But despite the prayerful requirements of this sacred period between Ash Wednesday and Holy Easter, some of the brothers being human hold grudges that supersede not only reason, but also basic compassion.

The characters talk of other characters in a way that feels realistic, but also gives you a glimpse of the character behind that name. William, Their uninvited Augustinian guest holds and entirely different memory his encounter with Columbe and can’t understand why the Benedictines consider it so terrible they would hold such grudges against him. To him the encounter had been a friendly debate to make a point to a third party. Rather than seeing their point of view that he had humiliated their beloved abbot, he considered Columbe the winner of the debate and was himself quite fond of the old abbot for having bested him. Overall, The Hardest Thing to Do was to put aside rash judgements and learn to forgive; to be more Christ like in their inner lives.

Not being a Catholic myself, I can’t critique The Hardest Thing to Do from a sectarian perspective but I found many of the monks sorely lacking in Christian charity although the book was enjoyable and as mentioned earlier virtual;ly free of errors which I as a novelist consider to be a remarkable accomplishment.

The Hardest Thing to Do provides an interesting look into monastic life and may prove useful to someone looking for a relatively inoffensive read.

( )

From the author of Sappho’s Sisters

2011-08-07T07:43:00.001-04:00

Thank you so much, Peggy, for including the blurb for my story here. Sappho was indeed a very important and influential woman throughout history.
Berengaria

"Sappho's Sisters"

2011-08-06T21:24:00.001-04:00

Lady Eustacia Lumley is the only child of the Earl of Wentworth. It is her duty to marry well and ensure the succession.
Margaret Durrell is the fourth daughter of a gently born, but near penniless vicar. She has no option but to marry a man who can provide for her and possibly for some of her sisters as well.
Best friends since their days at Miss Marcomb's Academy for Young Ladies, both young women are very interested in Sappho's poetry and ideas. One evening while visiting the Wentworth estate, Margaret has a headache and Eustacia offers to massage her scalp. This act of kindness leads them into an encounter they both find very enjoyable.
The two young women fall deeply in love, but is there any hope for them? Or will they both have to conform to the rigid rules of Regency society?
Sappho's Sisters: Excerpt PG 13
After a week in Town, Eustacia was keen to return to Green Meadows, her home outside London. It was ideally situated on good farming land, a full day's journey from the bustle of the city—close enough to make a trip to Town for shopping or parties easy, but not so close that people were endlessly arriving unannounced.
She was particularly pleased to have Margaret staying with them for at least three months. Margaret's long-suffering Papa despaired of marrying his four motherless daughters appropriately. Both Margaret's Mama and her Papa came from the nobility, but the Reverend Mr. Durrell had inadequate funds to launch them onto the marriage mart. He loved them and wanted them to be happy, not just married to the highest bidder.
"Ah well, he won't need to worry about Margaret for a while," she mused.
Although Margaret was eighteen to Eustacia's twenty-four, they both had lively minds and had formed an instant bond in the brief year they'd both been at Miss Marcomb's Academy for Young Ladies—Margaret's first year there and Eustacia's last. They both loved learning and had read avidly. Since then, they'd kept in touch with long letters and had recently been reading and discussing Sappho's poetry. Eustacia was looking forward to talking more about it with her friend.
Sappho's sharp imagery, her immediacy, her control, and the rhythm and almost melody of her words were immensely appealing. Not to mention some of her underlying ideas—ideas which were increasingly compelling to Eustacia.
Eustacia had never been sexually attracted to men. While all the other young ladies at school had been sighing over the dancing master and the riding master, Eustacia had only desired to learn the subjects they taught. Their male beauty stirred her heart not one iota. When she had first made her curtsy to the Ton, many handsome and eligible young men had sought her hand for that lascivious dance, the waltz. Not one of them had made her heart beat faster. Fortunately, her father, the earl, had made no attempt to push her to accept any of the three very flattering offers he had received for her hand. Even more fortunately, Gervase's younger brother, Anthony, had three fine, strong sons to inherit the title, so there was no pressure on Gervase to marry again and produce an heir, or to marry off his daughter to ensure a grandson to inherit.
But Margaret. Ahh, Margaret did make her palms sweat and her heart beat faster. Margaret's bright, inquiring mind and ability to converse intelligently on any topic. Margaret's soft brown eyes and shiny brown hair. Her white skin and pale cheeks that flushed enchantingly when Eustacia smiled at her.
Eustacia had read widely about Sapphic love and was eager to experience it—but only with Margaret and only if Margaret was willing. Meanwhile, her reading had taught her much, and with the help of a handheld looking glass, she had learned a lot about the art of self-pleasure. As for the anatomist Mateo Renaldo Colombo, who claimed to have discovered the amor Veneris, vel dulcedo—"the sweetness of Venus"—Eustacia was willing to bet her late mother's emeralds that Sappho and her followers had known about their nubbins six hundred years before the birth of Christ!
Visit the Sappho's Sisters page at Logical-Lust Publications: www.logical-lust.com/sapphossisters.html

www.peggyullmanbell.com

2011-07-31T15:59:00.001-04:00

Official site for this author of historical fiction includes bio, photos, interviews, reviews, novel excerpts, readers' guide, writing advice, and poetry.

message 1: by Ruth (new) - rated it 4 stars

2011-07-18T12:03:00.001-04:00

Jul 08, 2011 10:19pm

I read this book months ago but was delayed by vision problems from finishing and posting the review. I wanted to polish it a bit, but decided to post it as is. It's a fine book and I didn't want to delay any longer. So here is my review of Women at Gettysburg: Fixin Things.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WOMEN AT GETTYSBURG: FIXIN’ THINGS
Peggy Ullman Bell
ISBN-10: 1452892040
ISBN-13: 978-1452892047
Peggy Ullman Bell is a fine writer, as I discovered when I read her novel about the woman we know as Sappho, “Sappho Sings.”
WOMEN AT GETTYSBURG: FIXIN’ THINGS is an historical novel centered on one traumatic and history-changing battle in the American Civil War, 1861-1865. The battle around Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, left 21,000 men dead and wounded, fertile land laid waste, lives ruined. This book is not primarily a battlefield novel, however, except as events leading up to, during, and afterward affect the female protagonists.
From the beginning, the story brought to mind a line that has lingered in my mind since High School literature. Milton was not referring to war, but that’s what it has always made me think of: “They also serve who only stand and wait.” Most of the war novels I have read—and I went through a Civil War phase years ago—focus on the soldiers, the fighting, the military. “Fixin’ Things” focuses on those who “stand and wait,” the civilians, mostly women in those days, who were affected in every way by war and struggled to keep their sanity, protect their families, and keep body and soul together in the midst of blood, death, mud, filth, and horrors they could never have imagined.
“Fixin’ Things” is the story of women. When the story opens, the women at Loren Farm, not far from the town of Gettysburg, Megan and her sister Kathin, are surreptitiously and dangerously involved in helping runaway slaves to maneuver the Underground Railway to freedom. Like many families in the nation, especially in the so-called border states, their family is divided. Kathin’s husand is a Union officer. Her sister-in-law is a pretentious Southern sympathizer married to a Confederate officer. Kathin and Megan are accustomed to frantic secrecy and tension because of their work helping runaway slaves, but they have no idea that the hideous cloud of battle is about to envelop them. Their lives and the lives of everyone they know are about to become hell on earth.
Feisty Megan Loren, at seventeen, knows what it is to be the unwilling object of a man’s lust; to make a bad situation worse, the man is her brother-in-law, husband to her older sister, Kathin. The husband, Union Army Captain Edwin Brown, is an arrogant, always randy “it’s my right as a man” type when it comes to sex. When the story opens, they are blissfully unaware that their family home, Loren Farm, will be in the midst of the great battle.
For a novel centered around a battle, there is comparatively little actual battle description but what there is, is very realistic. Her descriptions shine brightest when writing about the human element. It’s easy to think of historical battles as Historic Battles, forgetting, from our distant viewpoint, that there is no battle without desecrated human flesh.
The author hones in on the people.
Soldiers screaming in pain, faces and bodies ripped apart but somehow still living, bleeding out their young lives, pleading for death, facing the horrors of amputation with a dirty saw by a bloody-handed, exhausted doctor—and in one case a blacksmith—with no anesthetic and no pain killer, little water to quench burning thirst. The civilians, mostly women, dirty, sweaty, as exhausted as the doctors, doing their best to help without regard to which army the wounded belongs to. A peaceful town and bucolic countryside laid waste in three days, every available building turned into a field hospital. Petticoats torn into bandages, the women giving and doing all they can, knowing it’s not enough and wondering if it will ever end. Wonderful, harrowing descriptions by a master.
There is a fairly large cast of mostly female characters in addition to Megan and Kathin, including, among others, a woman blacksmith (the first I have ever discovered in a book) as strong as any man and her physically frail but lion-hearted “friend,” Anne.
I like the way the author presents them as just what they are: no sermon, no soapbox. One unforgettable female is as unlikable as you can imagine. Anyone who ever watched the TV series Little House On the Prairie will recognize Sybil Mercer, Kathin’s sister-in-law, as the doppelgänger of Harriet Oleson times two. Every time she opens her mouth, the reader feels like slapping her. Among the memorable lesser characters, is a young woman who has donned men’s clothes and is part of the battle as a soldier. The only character who did not come alive for me through the first part of the book was Lainy, Sybil Mercer’s daughter, mostly because she had been brought up to be no more than a smiling ornament. She does have an independent streak, but it wasn't very convincing until she, like the others, was dirty and bloody and terrified.
The focus is on the women, but the author also does well portraying the men, both good and bad. Cathin’s husband, Edwin, is a selfish, violent beast who thinks nothing of raping his own wife. There is Chris, the honorable Confederate soldier who falls in love with Megan. Most of all there is Sam, the free Negro who has been with Megan and Kathin’s family since he was a little boy. He’s almost predictably brave, loyal, and honest, with a fierce and protective love for the white family who took him in. Sam is by far the most interesting male character in the story.
Women at Gettysburg: Fixin Things is an exciting, well-written, meticulously researched, and thunderous book full of the violence of war, and the courage of women. I recommend it most highly.

New review of Sappho Sings

2011-06-17T16:22:00.001-04:00

A wonderful new review of my novel Sappho Sings has just been posted by Nan Hawthorne, author of BELOVED PILGRIM and AN INVOLUNTARY KING.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15, 2011

Review: Sappho Sings, by Peggy Ullman Bell

Sappho Sings

Peggy Ullman Bell
Reviewed by Nan Hawthorne
The historical Sappho, about whom we sadly know so little, was known in her time as The Poetess, and fittingly Peggy Ullman Bell has made this fictional biography a work full of beauty and poetry. The novel is strewn with verse by Sappho herself and by her literary descendants, like Byron and Swinburne, each piece perfect for where it resides along the garden path of the story. This is a lovely, sensitive interpretation of the poet's life, and the included poetry makes it a veritable garden of delights. more

List Price: $15.95
About the author:
Nan Hawthorne is a historical novelist with a particular interest in exploding the myths of the Middle Ages. Her books include AN INVOLUNTARY KING: A TALE OF ANGLO SAXON ENGLAND,
and LOVING THE GODDESS WITHIN. She lives in the Pacific Northwest.

Beloved Pilgrim

Authored by Nan Hawthorne
Unwilling to settle for the passive life of a noblewoman, Elisabeth dons her late twin brother's armor and sets out for the Holy Land. On the journey she learns many things, not the least of which is that she can pass for a young man because, as she says, "People see what they expect to see." Her lessons also include that honor is not always where you expect to find it, and that true love can come in the form... of another woman. (quote from book listing on Amazon.com link above.)

Sarah and Hagar

2011-06-01T14:35:00.001-04:00

http://www.vocolot.com/music/heart_beat/sarah_and_hagar.html

I am calling you, oh Sarah;
This is your sister, Hagar,
calling through the centuries
to reach you from afar.

Here is my son, Ishmael,
your sister's son, alive.
We share the sons of Abraham:
two peoples, one tribe.

Oh yes, I am your Sarah.
I remember you, Hagar.
Your voice comes through the distance,
a cry upon my heart.

It was I who cast you out, in fear and jealousy;
Yet your vision survived the wilderness
to reach your destiny.

But it wasn't till my Isaac lay under the knife
that I recognized your peril,
the danger to your life.

I tremble now, Hagar,
for our peril's still the same.
We will not survive as strangers;
We must speak each other's name.

We must tell each others' stories,
make each other strong,
and sing the dream of ancient lands
where both of us belong.

Oh, let us hear the prayers
where spirit first was sown,
that all of our children
may call this land their home.

A blog post worth reading…

2011-05-07T09:04:00.001-04:00

Gay People in Historical Novels

With a widely accepted estimate that ten percent of men and women prefer their own sex for love and lovemaking and most likely always have, it can be difficult to find gay and lesbian characters in historical novels. This issue is important to me as the author of Beloved Pilgrim whose protagonist is a lesbian. Besides caring that a group of people who have almost no written history should at least be represented in historical fiction, I also worried whether there would be some barrier to my own novel’s acceptance by readers. I wondered about the instances of other gay characters and did some canvassing to find them in well-known novels.

Must read

2011-05-03T12:06:00.001-04:00

Blog article.

Beloved Pilgrim Official Book Trailer

2011-04-18T16:01:00.002-04:00

Beloved Pilgram by Nan Hawthorne

2011-04-14T23:44:00.001-04:00

A woman dons her brother's armor and heads for the doomed Crusade of 1101

Nan Hawthorne

Nan Hawthorne is a historical novelist who lives in the beautiful Pacific Northwest with her husband and doted-upon cats. She has been in love with history and historical fiction since, at four, she discovered the Richard Greene “The Adventures of Robin Hood” television series. She wrote her first short story at seven, then launched into the letters and stories with a teen friend that ultimately became her first novel, AN INVOLUNTARY KING: A TALE OF ANGLE SAXON ENGLAND (2008). The author of one nonfiction work on women and body image, she now concentrates primarily on historical novels set in the Middle Ages. Her latest novel, BELOVED PILGRIM, looks at gender identity and self-realization during the chaotic and doomed Crusade of 1101. She writes several blogs on historical themes, owns the medieval-novels.com catalog and also Internet radio station, Radio Dé Danann.

Peggy: Why did you choose a lesbian protagonist?

Nan: I am afraid I cannot claim some sort of holy mission for my decision to make the protagonist of my new novel, Beloved Pilgrim, a woman who loves women. If it had been that simple, well, I doubt the book would be anything like it is.

I am in a relationship with a man, have been for almost thirty years, but when I tried to imagine a relationship like mine for Elisabeth, I just couldn’t do it. Perhaps it's a lack in me, or perhaps I am absolutely right, but I can't imagine a man she would meet in 1101 who would be interested in a woman as strong as or stronger than he is. I usually find that a short way into writing a novel the characters become concrete enough to me that they ultimately have the last word anyway. You can count on it Elisabeth let me know just who she planned to love.

Then there was the woman on a writing group who said if I wrote a novel about a woman knight in love with a Saracen woman, she would love me forever. The idea of someone loving me forever for something I chose for a novel was the final deciding point! Maliha may not be a Saracen, per se, but rather Byzantine/Turkish, but it appears I made my reader very happy.

Elisabeth is not the only gay person in the novel. She and her beloved, Maliha, are lesbians, but Elisabeth’s brother Elias and his own lover are gay and so is the Byzantine functionary, Andronikos. I suspect every book I ever write will have gay characters because I am drawn to wanting to create places in history for people who have been so horribly oppressed. There is poignancy in such thoroughly star-crossed love that speaks to me like no other theme in historical fiction.

I also reject those critics who say that there were no gay people in the Middle Ages or that the ones who did exist were shortly to climb to their death at a stake. My personal opinion is that more or less the same proportion of humans now who are so inclined has always been the case. How people managed to live is for novelists to imagine. The threat of discovery is part of Beloved Pilgrim’s story, just as it would be, no matter how rosy a particular situation might develop.

Finally, and utterly frankly, I wrote this novel because there is a dearth of lesbian historical fiction. An unfilled niche is an author’s opportunity to succeed.

Now my challenge is to affirm the lesbianism of my characters but not limit interest in the broader story thanks to readers’ biases. Gay people read novels about straight people, so why shouldn’t the opposite be the case? I hope in my book’s appeal, it will be obvious that there are universal themes that will appeal to anyone interested in history.

Excerpt from Beloved Pilgrim by Nan Hawthorne

The scene: The first night on the ship from Italy to Constantinople.

Once the light had failed she leaned to Albrecht. "I have to piss," she said in a whisper. "What do I do?"

It was apparent that Albrecht had not thought about the problem any more than she had. "It's dark. Can you just go to the rails?"

She watched other men making their way through the standing crowd. "Where are they going?"

Albrecht stood on the tips of his toes to see what Elisabeth saw. "They are going to the beakhead."

"The beakhead? What is that? And how do you know what it's called?"

"Some squire told me to find a spot up near there, that I would be glad I did. Wait, I see him. He's the big burly fellow, the one climbing out on the beakhead." He watched a moment. "Oh."

"What?" she pressed.

"He's leaning way out to take a piss."

Elisabeth paled. "You have to climb out on that thing to piss?"

Albrecht shrugged. "Well, at least it's more private. I guess that is where you should go."

"And do what?" she demanded irritably. "Pull down my britches and sit with my arse to the sea? Everyone else is facing the other way."

Albrecht replied, "Not everyone. Can't you pretend you have to, you know . . . ?"

"I suppose. I might be able to get away with that in the dark." She started the process of pushing between men and made her way to the beakhead. To a man standing in her way she quipped, "Gotta take a shit. You mind?"

The man moved away from the spot at the fore of the cog. Elisabeth managed to relieve herself without anyone being the wiser.

Back in her old spot, she nodded to Albrecht. "It worked."

"I had an idea about daytime," he whispered as she pressed herself next to him.

"I can try to wait," she suggested.

Albrecht glanced about to see if anyone was regarding them. He shoved something hard against her thigh. "Put this in your britches," he rasped.

"What?" she asked, feeling for whatever it was he was poking her with. It felt like a piece of leather or some other hide. It was about the length and width of her hand. She obediently slipped it under her tunic and shirt and then into her britches.

"Roll it up," Albrecht instructed.

Her eyebrows darted up. "Oh, I get it! Then I just piss through it." She reached in to manipulate the improvised penis.

A man next to her looked her up and down, disgusted. "Can't you do that in private?" he complained as he turned his body so his back was to her.

"I wasn't . . . ," she began. She continued to grapple with the leather piece. She sighed deeply when she was done, then grinned at the man. "There, all done and no accident."

Best comment. in my never humble opinion, will receive a free electronic edition of Beloved Pilgram

An interesting website

2010-12-19T09:30:00.001-05:00

medieval-novels.com
http://www.medieval-novels.com/
Do you have a passion for historical novels set between 400 and 1600 AD? Check out this ever growing source for new, used, and out of print novels run by a novelist in the genre. Authors, list your books!

IT’S HERE

2010-07-09T11:34:00.001-04:00

Women at Gettysburg FIXIN’ THINGS second edition and Women at Gettysburg Large Print Edition have arrived! Please use the title links to purchase one or both of them. I know it’s July but it’s never too early to buy Holiday gifts.

Women at Gettysburg FIXIN’ THINGS would make a great present for all of the womens’ history and/or American Civil War enthusiasts in your life.

Women’s Memorial at Gettysburg

Come visit me on Facebook [link at left]

New editions coming soon

2010-06-15T08:33:00.001-04:00

The second edition of my American Civil War novel Women at Gettysburg FIXIN’ THINGS is almost ready for release from CreateSpace.com

As soon as I finish reviewing the proofs, there will also be a Large Print edition for your reading pleasure.

Watch this space for the new cover images and purchase information.

Meanwhile, you can find more information at http://peggyullmanbell.com/FIXIN_THINGS.HTM

Book recomendation

2010-01-15T12:13:00.001-05:00

http://www.escholarship.org/editions/view?docId=ft3199n81q;brand=ucpress

Best on Psappha that I’ve discovered so far.

http://www.amazon.com/Reading-Sappho-Contemporary-Approaches-Classics/dp/0520206010/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1263575838&sr=1-1

Thank you Rainbow Reviews.

2009-12-21T10:54:00.001-05:00

TITLE: Sappho Sings
AUTHOR: Peggy Ullman Bell
ISBN: 1438214316
PUBLISHER: CreateSpace
READ THIS BOOK
RATING:
Review by ErinSchmidt
231 views

Note from reviewer:

I rarely give a novel five stars, but I was tremendously impressed with the quality of storytelling in Sappho Sings, a fictionalized biography of the ancient Greek poet by Peggy Ullman Bell. Whether or not you are familiar with Sappho's timeless verse, this book brings history to life, and is a rollicking good romance as well!

BOOK BLURB:
Here Sappho Sings in her own words. Ancient phrases become the warp and weave of an intricate tapestry so delicately woven it becomes impossible to distinguish the imported threads from the weaver's own. Readers familiar with the myriad translations of the few fragmented lines of Sappho's work left available to us may recognize a word here or a conjunct there but, as one renowned expert in antiquities discovered, the author has herself become the voice of The Poetess to the extent that invented passages read like newly discovered wonders from the past.

BOOK REVIEW:
Meticulously researched, expertly conceived, and beautifully written, Sappho Sings is a rich, poetic feast of a novel. Following the famous, and famously passionate, lady of Lesbos through her riches-to-rags-to-riches story, the novel chronicles Sappho's bitter disappointments, artistic and personal triumphs and, above all, her burning desire to be loved.

Sappho ~ or Psappha, as she would have been known in her native Aeolian dialect ~ first felt the arrow of Eros as a young woman, looking at the lithe, golden-haired dancer Atthis. Betrothed, she wondered if she could ever feel the same way about her intended, and fellow poet, Alkaios. A storm at sea separates Psappha and Alkaios, though this tragedy leads her to an unexpected marriage, a beloved daughter ... and the love of her life. Although she takes both female and male lovers, Psappha's soul mate is the lovely African warrior-woman Gongyla. When Atthis dances back into her life, Psappha is left with a heart-rending choice to make.

Sappho Sings is an excellent and bittersweet love story. Fans of Margaret Doody's "Aristotle Detective" series will appreciate Ullman Bell's blend of ancient Greek history, thrilling story, and biting wit. Ullman Bell skillfully weaves bits of the surviving fragments of Sappho's poetry into her narrative, too.

One warning, though: reading Sappho Sings will send you scurrying to the bookstore for Sappho's poems.

Castle Age

2009-10-13T06:38:00.001-04:00

Lately, I’ve spent a lot of time playing the FaceBook game Castle Age and I’ve had the honor of being included in a wonderful exclusive group of dedicated dragon slayers one of whom is a marvelous artist named Mike Tanis. His amazing rendering of my dragon slaying character Psappha [of course] is a mere sampling of his work.

Undone © 2009 by Karen Slaughter [Delecorte Press/Random House] When reading a requested review copy, I keep a notepad handy. For "Undone" the pad stayed empty as I stayed too involved in the story for notetaking. Although not my usual genre choice, "Undone" kept me mesmerized from Prologue to Epilogue. I will be looking for more by this author.

2009-07-12T15:03:00.001-04:00

Blogger News Net Review of SAPPHO SINGS

2009-07-01T13:14:00.001-04:00

Out of a mere handful of facts known about the life of a lyric poet so famous in her lifetime (or shortly after it) that she was known as the 10th Muse and from the bare thousand or so lines left to us out of nine volumes of collected works, Peggy Ullman Bell has distilled an appropriately lyrical novel of the life of the woman known as The Poetess (as Homer was known simply as The Poet). more

Another great review of SAPPHO SINGS

2009-06-19T10:15:00.001-04:00

Sappho Sings. And so does Peggy Ullman Bell in her lyrical, painstakingly researched, emotionally involving novel about the Poetess of Lesbos.

Will Durant in his "Life of Greece" is quoted as saying that Sappho "called herself Psappha, in her soft Aeolian accent" and Psappha is the name by which she is known through this wondrous novel. Because the title uses the more familiar name, that is the name I shall use.

Many people have heard the name of Sappho but not many know who she was, what she did, or what she was famous for. There is, however, a sadly amusing idea in certain quarters that Sappho was "the founder of Lesbians," to quote someone of my acquaintance. (I didn't know Lesbians were "founded" but I guess that's a different issue.) At any rate, she is associated in modern thought with Lesbians (in the sexual sense, that is, not as in "citizens of Lesbos") and nothing else. Many people don't even know that the Island of Lesbos, in the Aegean Sea, actually exists and is not some mythic legend like Atlantis. I did actually know it existed, but that's the extent of what I knew until I read Sappho Sings.

Though Sappho was a prolific writer of poetry only a few original fragments of her work remain in existence, and it is with these fragments that Bell weaves the mesmerizing tale of an accomplished, passionate woman as real and flawed as any woman alive today.

Bell's vision of Sappho begins with her as a fatherless, feisty teenage girl, small in stature but a lion in spirit, who defies a tyrant and pays for it by being banished from her beloved island home and the adored little brother whose birth took her mother's life. On the miserable journey from Lesbos to Syracuse, Sappho loses her lifelong friend and betrothed, Alkaios, in a storm. She is rescued and "captured"--at least that's her view of it--by Kerkolos, a sea-going, wealthy merchant, who takes her to his home in Syracuse.
He treats her with utmost respect that eventually calms her fears of becoming a slave or concubine, and his gentle ways, so at odds with his appearance, win her over to friendship. They wed, and Sappho gives birth to his daughter. She feels great fondness for him, if not passion, and is grief-stricken and frightened when she finds herself suddenly widowed and at the mercy of her truly horrible mother-in-law.

Eventually Sappho initiated in the rites of the Sisterhood of Iphis and discovers that, though she is capable of physical passion with men, her heart is taken by women. The cast is large; some of the names are vaguely familiar from Ancient History in High School many years ago. I didn't find them very interesting back then. Now they certainly are!

The characters are unforgettable, especially Praxinoa, the nurse and lifelong friend; Lycos, the elegant and somewhat effeminate man whose loving friendship also lasts throughout the book, and the tall, Nubian queen, Gongyla, the love of Sappho's life, a woman who sold herself into slavery to save her people from a similar fate. I will never forget these people who have been my companions for many days.

Bell's knowledge of society and of place seems encyclopedic and yet not overwhelming. The language is just archaic enough in structure that it keeps you grounded in the ancient world but not enough so that it seems overdone. Names are pronounced in footnotes, which is very helpful. Sappho Sings is also the most sensuous book I have ever read: the lush descriptions of place, the elegantly expressed passion of depicted intimacy are poetic without crossing the line into the ludicrous, as sometimes happens when less gifted authors attempt it.

It is simply a wonderful book. It is not a quick and easy read, and it's certainly not a genre romance although love of many kinds permeates the pages. Part of that is the author's love of her subject.

This book should be winning awards. I can't recommend it highly enough.

--Ruth Sims, author of The Phoenix

New review of SAPPHO SINGS

2009-06-15T15:29:00.001-04:00

Meticulously researched, expertly conceived, and beautifully written, Sappho Sings is a rich, poetic feast of a novel. Following the famous, and famously passionate, lady of Lesbos through her riches-to-rags-to-riches story, the novel chronicles Sappho's bitter disappointments, artistic and personal triumphs and, above all, her burning desire to be loved. more

Sappho speaks.

2009-06-12T05:51:00.001-04:00

My name is Psappha. [suh-fah] Men of Athens dubbed me “Sappho Masculo”. Perhaps they thought that saying I wrote like a man would flatter me. It didn’t. I am proud of who I am. I am Psappha; The Poetess; The Lesbian and I intend to be remembered.

I am not Lesbian, you say. Is it because I lived so long in Syracuse? Or, is it because in modern usage you think my Lesbian citizenship does not qualify me for the term? Is it because I had a husband? How does that matter? I am who I was born. A Lesbian; a poet.

Have you not heard of my Kerkolos? Dare you think I did not come to love him well? I may have married him because I had no choice but I learned to love him for himself. Had I not done so, I would be less than I am and my name would have died before me.

I am Psappha. I was born at Eresus on the isle of Lesbos. My husband came from Andros. A beautiful man he was. As lovely in his way as any of the delicate girls who flocked to me for lessons in music, dance and words; all that my humble gift could teach them. His was a different beauty than that of tender Gyrinna. Different but no less wonderful, no less pure. I was devastated when I lost him while our daughter was so young.

No true Lesbian can love a man, you insist. What can you know of another woman’s heart? Will you stand before me and my life’s blood, Gongyla when we meet on Olympus and say to me, “You are no true Lesbian”? Will you dare?

Love and a kind heart toward my spouse lessened not the ardor aroused in me when my glance fell upon electrum-haired Atthis; nor the sadness of our parting. Nor did it tarnish the glory that was my soul-shattering union with my perfect Amazon.

Often in my life Love, the limb-loosener enflamed my heart toward a velvet-curved woman. But, my love for them took nothing from my daughter’s father. He understood that I needed something more than ‘broidery to fill the months while he sailed the seas.

The gods are generous with their gift of love. They give us all we need and more. The love of a mother for her child. The love of a child for its mother. The love of a man or the love of a woman for a kindred soul. None are the same yet none is diminished by the existence of the others. Rather, each is magnified. Love transcends all earthly values. Its magic is that the more you give away, the more there is to give.

Remember when you decide what a person is or is not that spirit has no gender and love is a thing of sacred spirit. The married homophile you reject today will be some woman’s lover on the morrow. Why should she not be yours?

I love to watch the morning.

2009-06-04T07:28:00.001-04:00

Here in south-west Florida, there’s a small man-made lake right behind our apartment. I love to sit on the balcony and watch the goings on.

At night there are lights in other apartments that make one wonder what’s going on inside. But at 5AM there’s only me, my coffee, my cats and golden spots reflected on the water from the street lights by the gate half an acre away.

This morning, there was rain so fine it barely made dents on the surface of the water. Here and there large circles shimmered as fish rose to capture skimmers. In the distance, soft lightning flashed across the horizon too distant to hear the rumble. An odd, thin necked, long bodied critter swam across the pond in the pre-dawn stillness; seen only in silhouette. I presumed it was a turtle out to rid the world of a few surplus bugs.

The sky brightened and a couple of dozen birds awoke to sing welcome to the sun. Pink clouds floated across the eastern sky. The odd critter turned out to be a pale gray duck trailed by seven ducklings. I had to smile as she herded them into the reeds below our balcony. The morning felt all warm and fuzzy as they played their duckling version of hide-and-seek. Then, with what seemed to be no signal they crowded around their mother and the little family swam away on a single long tight line. Moments later, I saw her lead them from the pond into the hedges at the end of another building.

At 6:55 sharp, the fountain in the pond came on to shoot water 40 feet straight up. A car horn honked elsewhere in the complex and I came inside to make my bed and wash last night’s supper dishes. My day had officially begun.

Review of SAPPHO SINGS by Linda B.

2009-06-01T09:56:00.001-04:00

Excerpt from Sappho Sings:
“Oh,sweet Melpomymnia gentle-hearted muse of sorrow, why can't I cry? Where are your tears now, dear muse, tears that flowed so freely for a fool? I loved her more than gods allow and now I've driven her away. What bitter gall remains of the horror I bestowed upon her leaving. Such bitter webs deception weaves. My eyes are dry and barren. Grief and guilt have imprisoned my tears. My soul retches, but my eyes cannot spew it forth. Life still flowed warmly in her veins. She was loath to waste a moment of it.”
           Beautifully written, the text of this book could be put to music. Fall back into ancient times and walk with Psappha through the marketplace. You will smell the aroma of the spices, the rotting fish, and sense everything around her.
          Psappha's story starts out as one of a life of many losses and circumstances over which she has no control. Losing her father, mother, home, freedom, forced to leave her homeland, and travel beneath her status, Psapha maintains a strong fortitude. As she grows older and wiser she gains fame and power, but also suffers betrayals. She drifts through her life of friends and lovers and at the end I could only be reminded of the words of Solomon, "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity!"
             Sit outside on a beautiful day with a gentle breeze and read Sappho Sings.

Eight Ways to Conjure Your Writing Genie [author anonymous]

2009-05-31T10:18:00.001-04:00

1. Shake off "Impostor Syndrome"

Everyone communicates, and a lot of people write, but few people dare to call themselves "writers". If you feel like an impostor, take a deep breath and remind yourself of your unique purpose and how important it is. Or take on a fictional persona and write through that mask.

2. Conjure Your True Voice

If you're at a loss for words, try meeting a friend for tea and talking your way through the material, or even talking out loud to yourself. Your spoken words might not be publishable, but once you've got 'em down on paper, you can edit to your heart's content.

3. Write it as a Letter

Submitting written work can be scary--especially if it's going to be read by The Powers That Be. But you don't have to think about those Powers when you're writing; in fact, it's probably better not to pay them any mind until the last few editing stages, after you've already squeezed out every last idea and captured it on paper. So when you're still writing, why not imagine you're writing a letter telling your closest confidante about your project? Try starting your work "Dear ____", and you might tap into a fountain of lovely, loose conversational prose.

4. Detach Your Ego

If stage fright derives from fear--the fear that if the work fails, we fail--we need to disconnect ourselves from the work. When I play pool, I don't care if I win or lose, because I'm not A Pool Person--but beat me on the air hockey table and I'll be grumpy, because I'm invested in the game. Realize that people reading your work are just as self-centered and will most likely not draw any permanent conclusions about you from your work.

5. Plunge Into the Scary Parts

What are you afraid of? Spelling poorly? Weak transitions? Well, go ahead and deliberately spell every word incorrectly, write without transitions, don't use any punctuation--do everything you're not supposed to do, and have fun doing it! Draw caricatures of your writing demons, put the dreaded failure behind you, and move on.

6. Lower Your Standards

There's really no reason to worry about editors, teachers, critics, bosses, and what they think until the last stage of revising. Until that time, indulge yourself. Don't correct anything; write in slang; write 3 pages in 15 minutes; leave notes to yourself, like ADD DETAILS HERE or FIX THIS LATER, throughout your work--anything that makes it easier to write.

7. Sidestep What Blocks You

Don't let one part of your writing stump you for long. If it's bugging you, just skip it and move on to an easier, more appealing task. If the introduction isn't coming, jump right to paragraph two, or page 23. If you can't think of anything to say in one section, just skip merrily along to the next part and let your unconscious work on the hard stuff for a while.

8. Stop When You're On a Roll

When writing is a struggle, you'll naturally want to stop. But if you do, you're rewarding yourself for not writing. Try sticking with it--and then quit when you're on a roll, so that next time you'll be eager to return to the work. Or start writing when you know you have to do something else in 45 minutes--as soon as the pressure's off, as soon as you say "well, I know I won't get anything done in this little bit of time" you're free to let your creative juices flow. Waves of inspiration will come and go; the trick is scheduling your work to take full advantage of the tides.

Dream Novel

2009-05-31T09:35:00.001-04:00

A subject anyone could find exciting,

written in a voice that matters, &

a plot that keeps you spinning

all the way to the end.

Anne Hawkins

Review: The Gnostic Mystery © 2009 by Randy Davila

2009-05-23T09:35:00.001-04:00

(Hieraphant Publishing, San Antonio, TX USA)

The Gnostic Mystery is an intriguing tale that challenges the long-held beliefs of millions on all sides of the Middle East conflict.

I thought it unfortunate that the strong first paragraph is followed by some confusion as to whether this was to be a new meeting or reunion between protagonist Jack Stanton, and Professor Chloe Eisenberg. I did not feel that the flashback literary device worked well as an opening for this novel. Nevertheless, the technique caused no discomfort as the story progressed.

Although presented as fiction, The Gnostic Mystery reads as well documented fact complete with an extensive bibliography. Some readers will be shocked and confused by the concepts presented. The profoundly devout, may slam the book down mid-sentence or throw it at a wall. While others will devour every word with enthusiasm and appreciate it for the fine example of the Socratic Method that it is.

I recommend The Gnostic Mystery to those last without reservation, and I look forward to Devila's next.

Sappho (fl. c. 610-c.580 B.C.)

2009-05-16T07:52:00.001-04:00

Greek poetess, who lived on the island of Lesbos. Sappho is the most famous female poet of antiquity, but only incomplete poems and fragments remain of her work. Most of Sappho's love poems were addressed to women. The Greek philosopher Plato called her the tenth Muse. more

Q: Do I need an agent to sell my book proposal?

2009-05-15T16:48:00.001-04:00

A: It depends.
This is almost like me asking you if I need a realtor to sell my house. Okay, in light of the current housing market, that might not be a very nice parallel. But then again, a quick look at the publishing industry might make that comparison even more apt. But back to the question and topic.
In the "old days" of publishing, let's say prior to 1990, there was a common publishing phrase that referred to an unsolicited manuscript that was sent to a publisher as something that "came in over the transom." (A transom is literally a hinged window over a door. Think of the book return slot at a library.) In other words, a writer sent in his or her manuscript to a mail drop, which then ended up in one of several 4-foot high stacks in a junior editor's office, and which after six or seven months of collecting dust was either rejected with a form letter - or voila, it got discovered and published. One way many publishing companies handled submissions that came over the transom was to hire college interns to sift through hundreds or thousands of manuscripts over summer break and separate the winners from the losers. More

The one not here

2009-05-10T18:36:00.001-04:00

I lost him long ago although it was thirty-three years later that he died. He was the sweetest of my sons until his baby brother came. A quiet child with soft blue eyes as gentle as his soul. Those eyes, his glance could melt any mother's heart no matter what mischief he got into and he got into plenty though nothing beyond naughty. At least nothing I caught him at.
All that ended when his first mistress entered his life. Her name was marajuana followed closely by cocaine and my precious boy was gone. Lost to me forever although he never ventured very far geographically. A few blocks, a few miles - infinity - unreachable - never mine again although I always knew he loved me in his own peculiar way.
He shook off the worst of the drugs I think, eventually, but my sweet, gentle boy was gone. Gone from all of us who loved him though we saw him off and on. And then, nineteen days after he turned fifty he was killed but for me my precious Johnny'd been long gone.

The Tipping Point has finally arrived for the publishing industry…

2009-05-05T08:36:00.001-04:00

While the internet has savaged the newspaper and recorded industries, it has had much less impact on the book business. But in 2009, one big thing and many little things in new media have conspired to bring traditional publishing to boiling point. Write... Read more at Independent »

Pros & Cons on Using Voice Recognition Software

2009-05-02T11:14:00.001-04:00

As it is with everything else in this world, there are pros and cons - a double-edged sword to everything one uses. Here are some ups and downs in using Voice Recognition Software.

Review: A Dance in Time by Orna Ross

2009-04-09T10:20:00.001-04:00

ISBN:978-1-944-88053-9 (Penguin Ireland, 2008)

An epic biography of figures famous and familiar woven into an autobiography of a mother written with "corrective" footnotes added by a disrespectful daughter. Wonderful in its reality, A Dance in Time is chock full of characters you'll love and some you'll hate but not a single one who is not vibrant and alive.

But [then] Dolores dies.

I found the opening scene astonishing due to real life reflection complete with my [used to be] strawberry hair and my daughter's maddening "talk to the hand" attitude. The book never read like fiction. It held me fully in it from start to startling finish.

toward or towards - that is the question

2009-04-06T08:35:00.001-04:00

Which is it? Toward or towards? Both are considered correct. They are often considered interchangeable, but are they? According to the pundits, toward is more common in American English whereas towards is preferred in Britain.

Main Entry:

¹to·ward

Pronunciation:

\ˈtō-ərd, ˈtȯ(-ə)rd\

Function:

adjective

Etymology:

Middle English toward, from Old English tōweard facing, imminent, from tō, preposition, to + -weard -ward

Date:

before 12th century

1also to·wards \ˈtō-ərdz, ˈtȯ(-ə)rdz\ [Middle English towardes, from Old English tōweardes, preposition, toward, from tōweard, adjective] a: coming soon : imminent b: happening at the moment : afoot

Personally, towards makes me cringe. To me, it seems too weird. How do y'all feel about it?

DELETE LIFE INTO YOUR PROSE

2009-04-02T14:15:00.001-04:00

Sometimes the only way to liven your prose is to hit the delete key hard and often.

The first step is to highlight all of your PET phrases and paragraphs. You know which ones. The ones that made you pause and thing, "Wow, what a great writer I am. You may need to delete them. Not because they are not good, but because they are often beautifully written author intrusion.

How many characters do you have? How many do you need? How many wonderful scenes can you give to a single character to eliminate two or three "walk-ons"? Too many characters, no matter how fascinating and well-defined, can bog down your story. Save some of them for another book. You do plan to write more, don't you?

Although an excellent tool for description and dialog, adverbs in exposition are the death of active fiction. Shakespeare might have said, "Out damned adverb," before rewriting it to "Out damned spot." Before I cut over 40,000 words from my book in progress, I used the following sentences. #1 In the kitchen, Melissa giggled softly. Revised, it reads - Melissa giggled. #2 "Daylight then," Kathin conceded firmly. "You can finish it after your morning chores are done. Now, get upstairs." I think it is obvious from the dialog that she was being firm. Or, at least I thought so after I forced myself to delete over 4000 adverbs from the manuscript.

Deleting hurts. I know. Deleting words and sentences you've slaved over is excruciating, but if I can do it so can you. Whether I ended up with better novels will be decided by you, the reading public. Meanwhile, I have concise drafts that interest the dickens out of me.

Thoughts on Accuracy in Historical Fiction from Guest Author Lynne Connolly

2009-03-22T19:29:00.001-04:00

I have found that whenever I try to discuss historical accuracy in historical
fiction, especially in historical romance, the same responses pop up. So
much so that I'm getting bored with them and tempted to wave my hand, sigh
and say "Whatever."

1. "It's only fiction." That response trashes the nature of the novel
and the nature of fiction. It tends to show that the responder is either
parroting the response he or she has heard elsewhere or really doesn't
know what the novel is, or what fiction means. The novel is a highly
artificial construct made of several recognizable features. I think
every author should at least know that, or come to realize it as s/he
writes. But sometimes they don't. Fiction, similarly, doesn't mean you
can make up what the hell you like, it is again a recognizable construct
and bounded by understandings. If a writer has something they want to
bring to that, and the example that springs to mind is Truman Capote's
"In Cold Blood," then they are at liberty to do so, but it's nice if,
like Capote, they know exactly what they're doing and why they want to
do it. Even better if they can explain to a room full of academics, who,
in this case, are the gatekeepers.

2. "The story comes first." Hell, yes, of course it does, but that isn't
a reason to traduce history in the telling of it. Just incorporate the
real stuff or call it fantasy. There are some superb fantasies that take
a medieval world as its base ("Lord of the Rings" anyone?) but also
introduce other ideas. Just don't call it history if it isn't.

Alternative history, like "The Wolves of Willoughby Chase" is also an
exciting way to go.

3. "The readers don't care." Demonstrably, they do. You can sell
humongous numbers of historical romance that have very little relation
to the era they claim to be set in and get away with it, but I firmly
believe that was one of the factors that led to the collapse of the
historical romance genre a few years ago. The readers moved away from
the paper-thin walls towards the paranormal romances, many of which take
the same construct (putting made-up characters into a recognizable
world) and make it more real seeming.

4. "You can have a success without fussing too much about the history."
Yes, you can, but that, IMO, is short-changing the readers. Even if they
don't know, many can sense it's not right because the setting isn't
fully depicted, or they sense something about a character. And you're
limiting your readership. Publishers think in the relatively short-term,
they don't care if a writer only has a few years' success and then fades
away because there are plenty more waiting. And if you have respect for
yourself and your integrity as a writer, then you'll take more care.

5. "I want to read a novel, not a text book." As if making lists and
over-description aren't symptomatic of bad writing in any genre. This
one exasperates me, because no good historical fiction writer would
dream of overwhelming the reader with facts and details. When you write
a novel, it's like the tip of the iceberg. You put in what you need to
put in, but you need the confidence and the knowledge to put it in and
not to insert the wrong thing. You need to know all these facts if you
want to create a living, breathing character in a vivid background. Your
reader doesn't. I don't read SF romance for the details of how a
spaceship works, I read it for the story, but if the writer has an
inconsistent world, I won't bother reading further.

*Lynne Connolly, author of Dark and Provocative Romance
A murder... A lord's desire...and her quiet, respectable life is gone
forever.**
Tantalizing Secrets from Samhain Publishing
<http://samhainpubli shing.com/ romance/tantaliz ing-secrets>
*_*http://www.lynnecon nolly.com/ TantalizingSecre ts.html*_

Song for Today

2009-03-19T08:48:00.001-04:00

Top 25 Literary Influences

2009-03-12T15:38:00.001-04:00

Today I was challenged by my friend Marvin Wilson, author of I Romanced the Stone to list my top 25 Literary influences as he did this morning on his Free Spirit blog. So, here goes, Y'all. From last to first.

25. Margaret Atwood

24. Sarah Waters

23. Radclyffe Hall

22. Sylvia Plath

21. Patricia Matthews

20. Kathleen Windsor

19. Gustave Flaubert

18. Anya Seton

17. Marion Zimmer Bradley

16. Betty Smith

15. Leon Uris

14. Anita Diamant

13. Maya Angelou

12. Alix Olson

11. Anne McCaffrey

10. Robert Jordon

09. Margaret Walker

08. Rita Mae Brown

07. John Steinbeck

06. Frank G. Slaughter

05. Samuel Schellabarger

04. Lawrence Schoonover

03. Pearl Buck

02. Mary Renault

01. Sappho

Your turn.

Learn something from the Construction Industry by Guest blogger Phoenix Alexander, MFA, PhD

2009-03-11T21:15:00.001-04:00

     Writing a publishable manuscript is akin to building a successful commercial building. Both require good, aesthetically pleasing or satisfying design, sound structure, and quality materials that are well crafted to create settings suitable for the people who will use them and attractive to those who visit. Both must be well planned—no rooms without doorways or stairways to nowhere, with utilities conveniently placed. Signage, lighting and transit patterns must be clear enough to help folks get where they are going without stumbling. And both need inspectors to ensure everything is in place before they are ready to present to the market.
Too often writers let the analogy stop there. Writing a manuscript and "hoping for the best"—not knowing the intended readership or a way of getting it to market—is like a real estate developer building a commercial building without having leases signed and tenants ready to move in. Both are costly mistakes. When they finally find agents willing to represent them, they will be at the mercy of some pretty unattractive deals just to move a piece of property that has cost them to create.
You’ve heard the phrase “learn the craft” and assumed it meant learning the mechanics of writing—like the trade work on our commercial building. But successful writers who are more than “one-hit wonders”—the Micheners and the Pattersons—think more like the building’s developers. Before they build, successful developers study the neighborhood, learn which tenants will attract the widest range of visitors and bring in the most revenue, learn who the agents are who specialize in those tenants, keep tabs on the hottest architects, maybe assemble a focus group to review the design, and learn where to get the best tradesmen at the best cost, all ahead of time. They read trade magazines, network, and regularly update voluminous address books, so that by the time they conceive the next project, they know whom to approach for money or talent and what their “hot buttons” are.
     Most importantly, while developers may favor certain projects over others, THEY DO NOT CONFUSE THEM WITH THEIR CHILDREN. If inspections indicate needed changes in the project, they sign the change orders. In short, they deal with it as a business.
     I’m assuming here that you actually want to make money with your writing. If you’re a traditional type and don’t mind waiting a long time—a year or so in many cases—to see yourself in print, camp out in the library and check out the annual Writer’s Market series, which will tell you who is buying and publishing what, what their requirements are, and how much and when they pay—in short, how “the deal” is structured. Understand that payment upon publication is typical for magazines, and since it may take a magazine publisher three or four months to evaluate your work as a first-timer and another six after acceptance before the work hits the news stands, it can be a long time before you see any money from it.
     For books, the situation is worse, especially if you don’t have an agent. Sorry. The Writer’s Market series also includes a Guide to Literary Agents, and read all instructions carefully. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO BANG A SQUARE PEG INTO A ROUND HOLE. IT ONLY "PISSES OFF" THE HOLE.
     If you’re more adventurous, consider exploring alternative routes to publication, especially when you’re starting out—blogging, self-publishing, print-on-demand, graphic novels, even distributing stories by cell phone. Check out online newsletters (such as Your Publishing Poynters Newsletter http://parapub.com/sites/para/, a freebie) to keep up with changes in the industry. In short, do your homework, and don’t be taken by surprise. Know that you WILL make mistakes, you WILL fail, and you WILL be taken advantage of at some point by someone. It’s part of the learning process. Just don’t let it shut you down.

When is it too late to start writing?

2009-03-05T12:33:00.001-05:00

That was the question posted recently to a writers' email group.

I think a better question might be "Is it ever too late to stop learning to write?" We learn by writing. We learn by reading. And, lately I've discovered that I learn most by listening. My son downloaded hundreds of audio books, converted them to MP3s and gifted my [so far] with 30 DVDs full.

After listening my way through the entire Narnia series, ALL of the McCaffrey Pern novels and ALL of Robert Jordon's Wheel of Time I feel much more "ready" to work on my third novel and beyond.

My editor/friend has tried for years to get me to re-read Jordon for help with some of my style issues but after half a lifetime doing research and writing I find myself unable to read anything without mental editing. Listening disallows this and makes novel story structure and novel styles much more evident.

To paraphrase Rita Mae Brown, writing is perhaps the only field of endeavor in which a woman cannot be accused of "sleeping her way to the top." We live or die on the page or should I say we live and die FOR the page. Writing is age at its most irrelevant.

Incidentally, for the record I was 33 when I began my first novel and 68 when a truncated version of the umpteenth draft was published. I began my second novel at 46 and published it at age 70. "My" [and my editor's] preferred version of the first novel was published last year around the time of my 76th birthday. Now, as I contemplate my lucky double 7s year I'm anxious to get back to work on my 3 or 4 book historical epic. Age? Hurrumph! Who cares as long as we're living and learning?

Write on!

Re-Versing "Write what you know."

2009-02-27T10:07:00.001-05:00

We've all heard "Write what you know." I would reverse that and say, "Know what you write."

Many fine men and women have devoted their lives and careers to researching and publishing historical reference material. We owe them our respect, and, as writers of historical fiction, we owe it to ourselves, and our readers to make our stories as accurate as possible. I do not think writers claiming to write historical fiction should ever scramble recorded history to suit a story.

Does this mean that we cannot adjust the facts to suit our plot? Well, yes -- and no. Most historical novelists have toyed with history for the sake of plot movement. However, the best of us do not do it without considerable thought.

One way to avoid problems with historical events and personages is to write 'between' the facts. Say, for instance, that information about the beginning and the outcome of an event is readily available, but your extensive research turns up nothing about the middle. Does that mean you can do whatever you want with the middle? Pretty much. Just don't kill off anyone known to have been around for the end.

Sometimes all you want is the flavor of an historical era. That is, in its way, harder to deal with than events. For example, how do people care for their clothes? How do they cook their food? How do they handle things like sanitation, disease, birth control, and a thousand other minute details of everyday life? You won't need to put all of this information in your manuscript but you need to know it. You don't want to have a character using something before it was invented.

For FIXIN' THINGS, I needed to know if flat irons existed in the 19th century. My research of the 18th century proved their existence in that era. Therefore, it's a pretty good bet that my female lead will have one around in the 19th. Of course, setting a novel in 19th century America makes for easy research. So much information is available that knowing when to stop researching and start writing becomes difficult.

So, when is it time to do it? That, too, has a bifurcated answer. NOW is a good time to start writing the novel, whenever now is, and NEVER is the perfect time to stop researching. I find myself doing additional spot research through multiple rewrites. And, everything I change must be checked for accuracy.

What if your story wants to happen in an unreported era? Then, it becomes essential to research previous times. My novel, SAPPHO SINGS, is set during Greece's dark period. While most of us are at least vaguely familiar with Athens and Sparta in the 4th Century B.C.E., and Homer showed us much of the 10th century B.C.E. but little or nothing has come down to us from the time between. What there was has been systematically destroyed by religious interests. Therefore, in order to make my story as accurate as conscience dictates, I studied what went before. Homer was a starting point. To that I added the Bible, the Quaran and all the histories of Egypt and Mesopotamia I could get my hands on in those pre-Internet years.

I believe it behooves us, as writers of historical fiction, to spend the time and effort necessary to check and recheck any and all material we use from the past.

-- or --

leave history strictly alone and write our fictions without the help of research and researchers. We cannot, in all fairness, slough it off. We cannot shrug and say, "It is such a small part of the novel, it doesn't matter." History matters, a lot, to your readers, or they wouldn't be reading your historical novel.

If you have good reason to believe that the situation you want to put a character in could not have happened in the time and place you wish it to, it is you and your character who must adjust--history cannot.

I found a new toy

2009-02-14T10:09:00.001-05:00

Ever wish you could find software that would help you organize your creative genius without laying out more than your last advance? Check out yWriter from Spacejock.

yWriter works on the scene level so it doesn't overwhelm by expecting too much of you too soon.

Best of all - IT'S FREE! See for yourself at http://www.spacejock.com/yWriter5.html

"I dunno. I disremembered."

2009-02-09T07:19:00.001-05:00

As mentioned in a previous blog [see: When Characters Write Your Book 1/21/09], my fictional characters have a habit of writing much of my work for me. This morning I want to talk about such an incident.

Fifty years ago, while working on a short story for the writers' group I attended, one of my characters said something perfectly suited to the situation using a word I'd never heard before. When asked about an unpleasant episode from his past the boy said, "I dunno. I disremembered."

OK, I might have invented it but for me it was one of those perfect bits of language that dropped into my mind from the ether when only that single concept would convey what was needed. It would not have been enough for him to say he forgot. Forgetting happens to everyone and some things, as with what had happened to this boy are impossible to forget. This boy had managed to "disremember."

Guess I sold that story 'cause I just Googled and discovered that "disremembered" has found its way into a dictionary. However, it's presence in at least the Urban Dictionary does not surprise me since my little story was written in LA and we all know how information spreads from there. I remember inventing jokes while bartending in Hollywood and having them told to me as "new" in Arkansas twenty years later. I must have sold the boy's story and forgotten.

BUT! The dictionaries have it wrong when they say "disremember" and "disremembered" mean the same as "forget" and "forgot". Both "forget" and "forgot" are passive verbs meaning something lost at least temporarily. "Disremember" is an active verb that means "to forget": the deliberate act of putting something out of mind.

How many times have you tried to do that only to discover that the more you tried the more deeply rooted the memory became. And, the more it grew!

Historical fiction or fantasy or all three.

2009-02-08T09:24:00.001-05:00

This morning, while perusing Historical novel excerpts on Helium I came across an excerpt purported to be about my beloved hometown of Gettysburg. The author called it alternative history and of course I, being me, did not hesitate to let her know I thought alternative history belonged in the "fantasy" section.

Her approach to The Battle of Gettysburg is interesting despite the errors [eg. Chancellorville instead of Chancellorsville] being a bit off putting. I did however find the notion that Lee and Longstreet "planned" a battle @ Gettysburg more than a little disconcerting. Having grown up with the battlefield as my playground I learned early that Lee had no idea Lincoln would yank command of the Army of the Potomac away from McCellan nor that Meade would immediately bring the army north.

I love historical novels and I have a particular fondness for novels centered upon Gettysburg [as witnessed by my own novel FIXIN' THINGS] but I believe that novelists have a duty to their readers to either keep available facts straight or label their novels fantasy not historical. But then again, that's just my never humble opinion.

Wonderful World

2009-02-07T16:42:00.001-05:00

Despite whatever troubles you today we all need to be reminded once in a while what a gift this world of ours really is.

It's all in the message, Babe.

2009-02-07T10:17:00.001-05:00

This morning, inspired by my friend Marvin Wilson over at Tie Dyed Tirades I bring you a fabulous young never to be Beat poet named " target="_blank">' target=_blank>Alix Olson. Enjoy!

PRETZEL PLOTTING

2009-02-06T09:47:00.001-05:00

There are as many ways to plot a story as there are stories. But, as we all know, some are better than others. This leads me to what I call Pretzel Plotting (putting the cart before the horse and making the horse like it)

In a basic Confessions type story, the expected plot is sin, suffer and repent. But, it makes a much better story if the suffering comes after, rather than before repentance, as in sin, repent, and then suffer anyway.

For example: The protagonist does something deplorable and gets away with it. Later, plagued by a guilty conscience, she attempts to make things right. However, in the process of making things right, suppose she tells a series of lies that make her appear guilty of a crime. Now we have a woman, repentant for her intolerable act, innocent of the crime of which she is accused, but helpless to defend herself without telling the truth about the despicable thing she did. Sound like a soap opera? It is. But, it is also an intriguing plot with lots of possibilities.

Pretzel Plotting is taking the standard plots and turning them on their ear much as many current Historical Romance writers are doing. I have recently read over a three dozen such novels for research. In each of them, her own actions catch the protagonist, and she and her antagonist end up married early in the book. By the end of the novel, they are madly in love. A Pretzel Plot based on the boy meets girl/boy gets girl dichotomy but twisted into a more interesting shape. A good example of this is in The Thorn Birds, both protagonists have long since repented for their earlier involvement. Nevertheless, in the sequel, everyone is suffering from it.

"What if" is the stuff of which Pretzel Plots are made? What if Hitler had not died? What if Eisenhower had not halted his forward thrust to let the Russians enter Berlin first? What if Custer had followed orders? What if Pickett hadn't? What if Scarlet had been named Gertrude Hoffhausen? Or, Sherman had taken a different route? What if Tiny Tim had won the lottery? What if Rocky had fixed the fight? What if Luke's father had never gone over to the Dark Side?

Pretzel Plots. Find your story. Get fully acquainted with your characters. Put them in a situation. Then, turn the situation inside out. Wrap it in and over itself. Put your characters through the wringer, but make them tumble-dry themselves.

I NEED A WIFE

2009-02-05T08:31:00.001-05:00

[Originally written while my husband lived but still relevant]

Have you ever wondered why male authors appear to be more prolific than women? Historically, they do have more published books. But, I don't believe that men are the better writers simply because they have more books on the market. I believe they have more books on the market because most of them have/had some woman to sweep their floors, wash their socks and make sure they took time out to eat. Some men even have the kind of wife who does everything for them except their thinking. You know. They're the wives you read about. The ones who type one-hundred-and-twenty words a minute. Now, I want one of those.

A wife who cooks and cleans and types and gives good back rubs should be standard equipment for all potential authors. I need a wife to do all of the stuff my dear husband, who is retired and home all the time, thinks I should do immediately, if not sooner - just because I'm here. It doesn't matter that I'm deep into structuring my third novel. The tomatoes are ripe and have to be scalded and peeled - NOW! "Sure, dear, find me a wife and she'll do it while I figure out this new character's astrological makeup."

Yesterday, I planned to work on the rewrite of my second novel - but yesterday there were peppers to be pickled. Right now, our kitchen table has more ripe tomatoes on it than my desk has disks - and BOTH need processing. Oh, boy, do I need a wife. My house hasn't had a wife since the last kid left home and I retired. Well, not really. My husband retired. I couldn't retire as a housewife because I never married a house in the first place. I married a man who cooked, and I raised my kids to either clean it or ignore it.

I did both while they were still around. And, I wrote umpteen drafts of two novels, on a Remington Standard, in the midst of it. But, since they grew up and left and I've discovered the joys of virtual cut and paste, I've been writing full time and it is beginning to pay off, in spite of wifely interruptions.The earlier [truncated] version of my work on Sappho entitled PSAPPHA was produced from the draft I wrote in 1969, with five kids under twelve fighting in the background, and released in November 2000. Now out-of-print you can read the restored, revised, augmented version as SAPPHO SINGS.

My Gettysburg novel, FIXIN' THINGS took 30 years from draft to print, It might have come out years earlier - if I'd only had a wife.

A poem that sings to me.

2009-02-03T13:52:00.001-05:00

I found this recently and needed to share it.

30 January 2009
From Muse to Id
That dark lady I call my muse,
Angel of art inside my head.
My tears are shed as she sings blues,
That dark lady I call my muse.
Colours scheming in vibrant hues,
each time I lay there in my bed.
That dark lady I call my muse,
Angel of art inside my head.
Ideas float with static clues,
That dark lady I call my muse,
She brings them forth in words to use
In pictures tonal views are read.
That dark lady I call my muse,
Angel of art inside my head.

She holds me tight in vice-like grip,
yet tender is her sultry touch.
In thought, imagination’s trip
She holds me tight in vice like grip,
from her chalice I gently sip,
at first it all seems double Dutch
She holds me tight in vice-like grip,
yet tender is her sultry touch.
As words and art meet my pen tip
She holds me tight in vice-like grip,
she guides the words that form on lip,
the ink on paper now my crutch
She holds me tight in vice-like grip,
yet tender is her sultry touch.

That dark lady I call my muse,
She holds me tight in vice-like grip,
Eases the way that I confuse,
That dark lady I call my muse.
Images once lost, now diffuse
and on paper they swiftly slip
That dark lady I call my muse,
She holds me tight in vice-like grip,
no longer words can I excuse,
That dark lady I call my muse,
As I dwell in fantasies views
I see I’m now her fingertip,
The dark lady I called my muse,
I hold me tight in vice-like grip.

WHEN CHARACTERS WRITE YOUR BOOK

2009-01-22T09:49:00.001-05:00

Sometimes a character you intended as a walk-on will walk away with your heart. That was what happened to me when writing SAPPHO SINGS. I introduced Gongyla so well she would have taken over the book had I let her. But the book wasn't about Gongyla. The book is about Psappha, as the divine Sappho called herself. Psappha was a real woman, a famous poet, an inventor of language and meter, quoted by Masters of Greek Grammar and Literature centuries after her death for her perfection of style and form. It was my joy to put her words back into her thoughts and dialog. She was the focus of my Muse for more than forty years.

Nevertheless, Gongyla refused to leave my imagination and in doing so she stole Psappha's heart as well. The name was taken from an almost complete poem of Sappho's. A lovely piece that survived through the ages to grace our modern world.

But, like many times during the book's creation, I didn't start out to talk about Gongyla today. I wanted to talk about characterization tools. My favorite and most useful is to discover pictures of my characters in magazines (usually by accident) then frame them so that they look down from my office walls as I write. First, the irrepressible Gongyla as portrayed for me by Roanne Nesbit

And the lovely unknown who served as model for Psappha

(page clipped from New Woman magazine's February 1972)

To Librarians With Love

2009-01-19T14:06:00.001-05:00

Previously, I wrote about the ethics of attempting to write historical fiction using shoddy research and I could almost hear some of you saying, "That's easy for her to say. She probably lives within walking distance of some huge library." Right? Wrong.
The bulk of my research was done when I lived 9 miles from the nearest town and 11 miles from the nearest library, when Bill Gates was still in diapers. And I have never had a driver's license.
What I did have was an enthusiastic librarian who taught me about the wonders of Inter-Library Loan. Through ILL, one can get just about any book from nearly anywhere, and sometimes half the fun is seeing where the books come from. I once borrowed a book on Feminist Witchcraft from a library in Yazoo, Mississippi. Who'd a thunk it?
To use ILL effectively, you must first familiarize yourself with some reference tools. Specifically, a series of volumes titled BOOKS IN PRINT. Admittedly, to find what you need you often have to search the library's storage area for out of print volumes of Books in Print. Take a feather duster with you and do the librarian a favor while you're there. Sometimes, you may have to dig through several decades of dust to find exactly the title you need. However, I believe that, no matter what you want to find out, someone has put it in a book at some time or other. If not, it's time to write your own.
That's where my enthusiastic librarian came in. Although I could get to the library only on weekends when my husband came home from work, she searched the archives all week, and sent queries along with books she was returning. She requested books she thought I might be interested in without my asking and, every time I got to talk with her, she had a list of possible sources ready for me.
Another surprising thing is that I was sometimes able to study precious reference tomes that had to be read in the library because they were not available for public loan. This is an often-overlooked advantage to ILL. Once, when she obtained an extremely old and fragile volume on a limited loan, she personally hand-copied many pages for me because I was unable to stay at the library long enough to do it myself.
Remember, these were the times before copy machines reached small town America. Naturally, not every librarian would have the time to do all of that, no matter how enthusiastic they might be about a project. However, most of those I have worked with have been extremely supportive and generous with their time.
Librarians, with or without a Library Science degree, are an invaluable asset to the serious researcher. In fact, I have found that the smaller the library, the larger the heart of the librarian and the greater their enthusiasm for the written word.

Blessed be librarians one and all.

So tired my tired's tired

2009-01-14T09:36:00.000-05:00

Ever move on almost no notice? Rough, isn't it? My daughter got 10 days notice to report to her new job in another state. Talk about rush! Sweetlings, if you've never done it you just don't know.

My youngest called last night and asked if I had all the boxes unpacked. Jeesh! Can you imagine the gall? I arrived here Saturday after a marathon of packing, shuffling, loading and unloading and he wants to know if everything's unpacked by Tuesday night. Wow! And HE complains about HIS back. Get real, pup, the old beotch may be great but supermom she ain't.

He knows how much got left behind [it was "old"] We had to spend Sunday shopping for beds and all that goes with them. Plus other stuff. We're grrls ya know. Then there's cable, computers and phones to set up, email to catch up on, friends to call and update. All unpacked indeed!

You never know how much financial minitue you deal with every day until you have to transfer everything. How did we ever manage before the web and 800 #s? That stuff alone took me from 5 to 9 this morning. Unpacking can wait. Shoot fire, pup, my bed won't be delivered 'til tomorrow and a camp cot's danged narrow. Would be poor sleeping even if I wasn't sharing it with a fat calico cat.

I should get off this computer now - oops, it's almost noon. The boxes can wait. My soaps start in 5 minutes.

When your Muse won't cooperate

2008-12-11T11:22:00.001-05:00

What do you do with a head full of ideas that don't want to be put on paper? It's not the Dreaded Writer's Block. The ideas are there but they develop a stubborn streak somewhere between your fingers and the keyboard. If this happens to you, try something else.

Remember long hand? Do the words and phrases come off your fingertips better when kicked back in your favorite chair with a pen or pencil in hand?

How about dictation? Updated Voice Recognition software lets you lean back, shut your eyes and tell your stories as they display themselves on the inside of your eyelids.

Or, maybe your Muse wants to get out of the house. Try taking a recorder on a stroll through your neighbor or a local park. Used to be when I did this people looked at me askance but these days they just figure I'm talking on a cell and move on.

Whatever works. That's the key. Once the words begin to flow you can let your characters takeover at least for the rough draft. There'll be ample time to tame them later. The important thing is to create something substantial enough to edit. Write on!

How to begin

2008-09-12T21:52:00.001-04:00

You try and try to get started on a new novel but nothing gets written until the characters are darned good and ready. They'll let you know when that is so you might as well relax. It ain't gonna happen 'til it happens no matter how hard you push your Muse.

Best Historical Fiction I've read in a long time.

2008-09-12T21:24:00.002-04:00

The Phoenix by Ruth Sims (Writers Collective, 2004) 343 pages ISBN: 1932133402

This is one story you don’t want to miss. It had me crying before I got past chapter two and laughing halfway through chapter eight. The book is a marvel of passionate difficulties without ever feeling like an emotional roller-coaster.

There were a few point of view problems with description of what the POV character did not see but they were not severe enough to interrupt the flow. Altogether, the writing is superb, evocative. I found some details a bit jarring, not because they were out of place, but because I was surprised to discover that such things existed so long ago.

The author’s research is flawless, her writing tight and uncluttered. This is not a book for skip readers. Every word and comma is essential to the story, which, to this reviewer is exactly as it should be.

The love between St. Denys and Dr. Stuart is subtle, sultry and real; their emotion deep, rugged and lasting. I paused many time to sit back and let the intricacies of the story flow quietly through my mind.

One could not help but laugh at the thought of The Mrs. Aster with diamonds on her knickers.

The Phoenix thoroughly involves the reader. The specifics of both theater and surgery pull the reader into diverse scenes with ease, and hold them there – in the past – with Kit when his worthless excuse for a father comes after him. Tom Roarke is an excellently drawn villain. This reader could not wait to see him meet his end.

By chapter twenty-two, the urge to steal a glimpse at the end is strong and difficult to resist but you must resist it or you’ll miss the fun. As with any good drama, just as near unbearable the move toward the finale begins complete with comedy, unexpected misunderstandings and false hints.

Overall, I can’t remember when I’ve ever enjoyed a book so much. Get it. Read it then pass it along. This one is definitely worth sharing [if you can bring yourself to part with it at all]

Peggy Ullman Bell: author Fixin’ Things & Sappho sings. http://peggyullmanbell.com

And the beat goes on - and on

2008-06-04T10:20:00.002-04:00

Over 40 years ago, when I first became enamored with Psappha her true name was little known outside of academia. This is, unfortunately still true today. Rather than being honored for her creative genius her outstanding reputation is in shreds of Freudian angst.

Although I decry the need, I can well understand the current lawsuit filed by the people of Lesbos to halt the using of their citizen’s national designation in the titles of homophile organizations. Even here, Lesbos shows as a spelling error while the names of such places as Chernobyl , Uzbekistan and Zimbabwe even though Lesbos is ancient by comparison.

Yesterday, I was told that mention of SAPPHO SINGS, my fictionalized biography of The Poetess of Lesbos was inappropriate on “family oriented" email list for writers [mostly professional like myself]. "There are children as young as 11 here," I was told. How easily history is distorted by the uneducated in the name of protecting the children. What are they protecting them from? Poetic genius? Truth? Anything that goes contrary to the anal retentive Freudian Patriarchal perspective? It would seem so.

I'm here to tell you that my curiosity has not altered much throughout my life. Sappho, of Psappha as she called herself would have been every bit as fascinating to me at 11 as she was at 36 IF I had been allowed to hear of her which of course I wasn't.

I find it sad that so little has changed between my adolescence and now. Generations of ignorance and intolerance continue unabated. The great scholars of Greece lauded Sappho as they lauded Homer. Plato called her The Tenth Muse. Solon of Athens refused to die before hearing her latest work yet American men and women cringe from mention of her very name having never read a single word she wrote. I can't help but wonder just what it is they are so afraid of.

Incidentally, as I typed, not a single man's name was flagged as a spelling error no matter how long ago he lived. Yet, the lovely Sappho/Psappha is tagged - every time. I wonder why that is?

Author's Note

2008-05-25T15:36:00.001-04:00

SAPPHO SINGS by Peggy Ullman Bell

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
SAPPHO SINGS is a substantially augmented and enhanced version of my fictionalized biography of The Poetess of Lesbos, previously published in part as PSAPPHA, a novel of Sappho

Although long dead, Psappha, as Sappho called herself in her own soft Aeolian dialect is and has been the love of my life for over 40 years. In my heart and mind she lives, loves and laughs.

Writing her story has been my profound joy.

View all my reviews.

Yahoo Answers

2008-04-20T12:02:00.001-04:00

New

2008-04-15T11:32:00.001-04:00

The Poetess of Lesbos

SAPPHO SINGS

(to be released summer of '08)

sans apology, sans censure.

In this superb page-turner reminiscent of the great Mary Renault, Peggy Ullman Bell brings to life one of the most exciting and fascinating figures of the Ancient World - Sappho, "The Poetess." A woman who surpassed the conventions of her time.

Introduction

Excerpted from The Life of Greece by Will Durant

(Simon & Schuster, N.Y., 1939)

“Sappho was a marvelous woman," said Strabo...

"Psappha, as she called herself in her soft Aeolian dialect, was born at Eresus, on Lesbos, ...Pittacus, fearing her maturing pen, banished her...

"After five years of exile she returned to Lesbos and became a leader of the island's society and intellect ... Eager for an active life, she opened a school for young women, to whom she taught poetry, music, and dancing; it was the first 'finishing school' in history....

"Her verse was collected into nine books, of some twelve-hundred lines, six-hundred survive, seldom continuous."

A new Sappho poem
Martin West
21 June 2005

From these fragmented lines, Ms. Bell has created a novel rich in the textures of ancient Greece, yet modern as tomorrow's fashions.
Bell has incorporated the fragmentary words and phrases still available into the novel in a way that makes them vanish into the fabric of the story like golden threads woven into an intricate tapestry so delicately that it becomes impossible to distinguish the imported threads from the weaver's own.
Readers familiar with the myriad of translations may recognize a word here or a phrase there but, as one expert in antiquities discovered, the author has herself become the voice of The Poetess to the extent that invented passages seem like newly discovered wonders from the past.

It's a book!

2008-04-09T07:56:00.001-04:00

SAPPHO SINGS, my fictionalized biography of The Poetess of Lesbos, is in its final stage of editing and should be ready for presentation to the publisher within the month.

SAPPHO SINGS is based upon and built around the existing fragments of Sappho's work.

Valentine's Day re-affirms its meaning - slowly.

2008-02-11T09:13:00.001-05:00

One has to wonder when Valentines Day became no more than another children's holiday. When reading my local paper yesterday I noticed an upcoming event called "A Sweetheart's Dance" and I thought how sweet. Someone's hosting a dance for Senior Citizens but - no - this event is not for "Sweethearts" from when the word was deeply meaningful. This is to be an event for Elementary School children. I must admit to being appalled. What do children know of "sweethearts"? What should children know of sweethearts? Nothing.

We, as a society, pair our off-spring at an an abysmally young age then wonder why teenage sex is a growing problem.

I saw another article in that same paper about a growing group of young adults and their families who are reinstituting the concept of courtship. I'm pleased and amazed that they actually know what courtship is.

For those among you who may have never heard the word, courtship is a process wherein young people gather only in groups under strict adult supervision until such time as they express a sincere interest in a specific future life partner at which time the courtship begins - again under strict adult supervision. Look up chaperone. It is from courtship that St Valentines Day derives its true meaning.

2008-01-19T00:02:00.000-05:00

Today I have the privilege of interviewing Author, Marvin D. Wilson. Good morning, Marvin, glad you could stop by and so kind of you to offer such fine incentives.

Everyone who reads this interview and leaves a comment will receive a downloadable PDF file first chapter sample of both I ROMANCED THE STONE and OWEN FIDDLER.

At the end of the month, once all the hosts have sent Marvin a complete list of all those who left comments, he will do a drawing and select 3 winners:

2^nd runner-up receives (his/her choice)
either a print copy of I ROMANCED THE STONE (Memoirs of a Recovering
Hippie), or, a downloadable PDF file copy of OWEN FIDDLER.

1^st runner-up receives the same choice.

The Grand Prize winner will receive both books.

I’m sure your generosity will be appreciated, Marvin. Before we begin, would you like to tell my readers a little about yourself?

I am a man of many careers and walks of life; first as a rock and roll musician, then a nightclub entertainer, I’ve been a Zen Buddhist lay-minister, a carpenter, woodworker and cabinetmaker, a small business owner, a network marketer, a building trades instructor, a drunken crack head, and am now a recovered old hippie, a non-religious Maverick Christian spiritualist launching a golden years career as an author. I’m kind of a nutcase. I can be a very good friend, although I might embarrass you in public with spontaneous and/or eccentric behavior. I can say wise things and also make wisecracks. I can tell a good joke and also be one. I have a wonderful wife of thirty years, three great fully grown children with four grandkids and one on the way.

Thank you. And now for those dreaded questions.

1. Your first book, which I thoroughly enjoyed, was the autobiographical I ROMANCED THE STONE and I noticed that one of your IM signatures is that of the "good" brother, Paize from your just released novel, OWEN FIDDLER. However, after talking with you and reading OWEN FIDDLER, I have to wonder - isn't Owen himself closer to your "real" personality than one might expect from a fictional character?

We are all multi-faceted complex beings. But, we are also equally endowed with the intuitive knowledge of right and wrong and have identical free wills with which
to make our choices. When reduced to choice-makers in a universe of basic
fundamental dualities and dichotomies, we are in this sense quite simple beings. When I was a youngster, my Dad used to tell me, “Marvin, there are always two ways to do anything. There’s the right way and there’s the wrong way. Do it the right way.” OWEN FIDDLER is the Marvin (or anyone else, for that matter) who ignores that simple but wise admonition and chooses to do the things the wrong way because it is either: easier, or more self-gratifying, or one of those (what I call) “short cuts to a dead end” in the pursuit of quick fix pleasure and/or happiness. Owen gets his name because he likes to dance, but never bothers to pay the fiddler. Hence, he is always in a state of owing (“Owen”) the fiddler, the proverbial karma debt collector. Paize gets his name because he is the opposite; he always makes sure he “Pays” the fiddler. I
believe in the truth of the Law of Attraction, so I am making conscious and
sub-conscious efforts to be more like Paize and less like Owen. Is Owen the more “real” me? I hope not, not anymore, at least. Used to be. I’ll leave the final judgment (on this plane of existence) to those who survive me.

2. Do you find that your work gets negative feedback due to its controversial theme?

If you mean the underlying Christian Theology in both books I’ve published to date, no, so far it hasn’t been a problem. I try to write in a way that is not at all “preachy” – I’m not evangelical with my writing, and actually I’m not a religious person at all. I leave dogma and outdated litanies out of it. I do my best to write
books that will engage and entertain readers from any faith or no-faith at all.
True spirituality transcends any particular religion. I suspect OWEN will be more controversial to traditional religious Christians than to the secular readership, because while I acknowledge the power of redemption and salvation, I poo-poo any notion that there is some evil deity with the power to damn us. We do a fine enough job of damning ourselves without some giant flaming boogeyman poking us in the arse with his spear as a prompt. Free will is the key to Heaven or Hell and it is always an erroneous copout to think or say, “The Devil made me do it.”

I ROMANCED THE STONE is somewhat “controversial” because I give testimony to a CURE for addiction … this goes head up against traditional AA/12-step philosophy, and STONE has met with some rejection from those folks. It’s the truth, however, and my own cure is not some fluke. Recent advances in treatment philosophy and methods have debunked the idea of “once an addict always an addict.” Addiction is a symptom of a deeper “dis-ease,” not the disease itself. Cure the
underlying disease, the symptoms go away naturally.

3. Do you listen to music while you work? If so, what kind?

No, probably because of my formal Zen training years ago. I like to do one thing at a time. The old Zen saying goes, “When you eat, just eat. When you sit, just sit.” So,
when I write, I just write. When I listen to music, I just listen to music.

Not that I can’t multi-task, I can do it with the best of them. That’s because
when I multi-task, I just multi-task. Sounds like an oxymoron, but it’s not –
there’s truth in that. As for music, I love ALL genres of music … mmm, except
for the quasi new-age schlocky “easy listening” jazz. If I’m going to listen to
jazz, give me Coltrain, Miles, Weather Report, stuff that gets deep and out of
sight, delivering the WORD in the universal spiritual language of music. I love
improvisation.

4. Do you edit as you work, or do you prefer to get the whole thing down before switching from your writer to your editor mode?

You know, Peggy, it varies with me. When I’m in the writing “zone” and can’t type fast enough to keep up with the thoughts and inspirations, I have no time to slow down and edit. Editing involves thinking, and my best writing comes when I am
thoughtlessly absorbed in a sort of trance. Those spells can last for hours up to a couple of days. Might sometimes be the sloppiest mess of grammar and
punctuation you’ve ever seen puked onto a page, but the essence of the writing
is the best stuff I do. So, during those hallowed times, I just let ‘er rip until the inspiration runs dry. I refuse to re-read for at least a day … I need fresh eyes to evaluate it properly. When I do re-read, I then put on the editor’s cap, pull out my scalpel and start cutting the crap out of it. I have almost as much fun with this process as in the actual writing. Didn’t used to, it used to seem like work to me. But learning all I have from other professionals (including you) about crafting good prose has given birth to a new delight in me towards this part of the art. It’s a more conscious, savory fun than full speed ahead first drafting … finding and saving the nuggets, improving the pretty good stuff, re-writing the not-so-good-but-worth-trying-to-salvage stuff, and taking joy in hitting the “delete” button when you know it will
improve the impact of the story. If I’m not in the “zone” and writing just because it’s “time to get some work done” on one of my books, then I often do at least some of the obvious editing necessary as I go along.

5. Your vision of the devil's role in things is quite similar to that expressed by Piers
Anthony in his Incarnations of Immortality series. Have you read them? And if
so, what is your opinion of his work?

Well, if his vision is similar to mine, he must be a very wise man indeed! (smile) Honestly, I haven’t read them, but your question prompted me to go online and check his writing out. I’ve heard much about him. He’s a prolific writer who does seem
to write along some of the themes I take interest in. His reader reviews range from a few of the “This is crap – save yourself the time” kind, to lots of the “Brilliant! Best book I’ve read in years!” kind also, so that means he’s evoking emotion and stimulating thought and dialogue. Thanks for the pointer, I’ll pick up a couple books and read them.

6. On that note, what authors have inspired you? Which have turned you off?

Richard Bach and Herman Hesse are my number one and two favorites in the spiritual/inspirational genre. Gotta go with Stephen King in the suspense/thriller area. I’m not a big fan of that genre overall, but his writing technique and style are phenomenal. I’ve read his “On Writing” and keep it as a textbook.

In historical fiction, James Clavell’s “Shogun” blew my mind. I read it in my mid-twenties while on the road with my rock and roll band. Another band member had just read it; she handed me the still warm book and told me I should check it out. That was early afternoon. I got so lost in that book I read it straight through. Picture me in a shared hotel room in bed with my flashlight on (so as to not keep my
roommate awake) at 4:00 in the morning swearing to myself I’ll just read to the end of this next chapter and then get some sleep. A while later you hear me groan because there’s no way in Hell I’m gonna get any sleep without turning the page and finding out what’s going to happen in the next chapter. That’s good writing.

Who has turned me off? Many will consider this heresy, but Hemmingway. I’m not turned off by his writing and storytelling skills … he was brilliant, oftentimes genius. It’s just that he was such a racist bigot. I’ll be reading along enjoying every
phrase and plot nuance and then he’ll throw a “nigger” at me and piss me off,
disrupting the read. I’m not against using ethnically degrading words if they are placed properly within the context of a story. For instance, “Abdul’s face twisted and flushed crimson. He slapped his ‘so-called’ friend in the face with a shout, ‘Nobody calls me a Camel Jockey!’” … that is to me appropriate writing. But, “The nigger ran over to the fallen man and shot him twice in the head. Some nigger.” - that is not. That’s first person narrative with a shot of internal thought comment, and it’s a racist doing the storytelling.

7. What is the most challenging aspect of being a novelist?

Striving for perfection. As a published author, that is. You can write any way you like to your little heart’s content for you own personal pleasure or the entertainment
of your circle of friends and family. But when you step over the line into the world of professional writers, you’re in some deep waters occupied by a plethora of accomplished swimmers. I used to read just for fun, and I still do read for fun, but now I also read with more of an analytical approach. It’s my job. I want to add to the volume of well-written books out there, not contribute any to the piles of dung on the page. It’s kind of like becoming a musician. Before you understand music theory, how music is put together, what makes good sonorous combinations, what makes a well-written composition and why, etc., you can just enjoy yourself listening to music. After you cross the line into professional musician, you can’t help but “take the thing apart” in your mind as you listen to a tune or a symphony.

8. What do you hope readers will take away from your work?

I write books that are intended to deliver spiritual messages in an entertaining, oftentimes humorous, more than often irreverent, sometimes sexy and even ribald way, through the spinning of a good tale. It is my hope that the reader will have
been entertained along the way, and that he/she will have been given some food
for thought and inspiration at the conclusion.

9. Do you have any advice for aspiring novelists?

Keep your day job for a while, this is a loooooong process! (smile – no, make that a grimace)

Seriously, you have to believe in yourself, in your ability to communicate
through the written word. Develop thick skin, you’re going to get slammed from
time to time, but also be open to criticism. There’s no room for self-pitiful emotions in this business when it comes to perfecting your craft. Have your manuscripts read by professionals (not your friends or family) in the field and if the first reviews don’t come back so good, don’t pout about it. Set about with determination to improving your draft. When I sent my first manuscript I ROMANCED THE STONE in to the publisher’s editor the first time, it came back so marked up I felt like I had just flunked third grade English! Grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, passive voices, paragraph composition, she beat the crap out of my precious little baby. What? You mean my cherished brainchild is not perfection just as it is? ALL my family and friends think it’s sheer genius! (laugh) And that brings us to my last bit of advice.

Work with an editor – a good one, one who is not afraid to hurt your feelings and
step on your egotistical “style” toes in favor of well-written English. Style has its place, but overdoing it (especially as an “unknown”) can make you come off as amateurish. Do this BEFORE making submissions. Small pub houses (and they are the only ones you’re going to get through to as an “aspiring” author) these days more and more want to read polished manuscripts, not “diamonds in the rough.” They often don’t have the time or money to do all the work for you.

10. What are you working on now?

I’m about half the way through writing a third book, a fiction titled “Heaven’s Slope Ascended,” and have begun to sketch out a story synopsis for a fourth book. AND, I have accepted another author's invitation to do some collaborative writing on an historical fiction project. Besides the writing, I am in a feverish marketing mood, part of which is this blog tour.

For any readers who wish to know where they can get my books and/or how they can contact me, (and I LOVE hearing from new readers, enjoy dialogue and making new friends), here is my contact info:

OWEN FIDDLER – The Ebook is now available on www.mobipocket.com and

www.fictionwise.com. By the end of January, it should be on www.ebooksonthe.net, and for Kindle Book lovers on amazon.com. Print copies will take a bit longer; the trade paperback version will most likely be out by mid-year 2008. For more info on OWEN FIDDLER, reviews, excerpts, and a 3 minute trailor video, go to: www.owenfiddler.com.

I ROMANCED THE STONE (Memoirs of a Recovering Hippie) sells as a trade paperback on
www.amazon.com – If you would like a signed copy direct from me, contact me via e-mail at:

marvwilson2010@gmail.com

My MySpace is: www.myspace.com/Paize_Fiddler

My Blog, Free Spirit, is: http://inspiritandtruths.blogspot.com,

And my E-mail address is: marvwilson2010@gmail.com

Thank you, Marvin. It’s been fun. Please stop around again when your next book comes out.

Thank you, Peggy. I got a bit wordy with some of the answers, but that’s because your questions were so stimulating, and they tickled some of my creative writer’s rib bones. Thank you again for hosting me today. My very best to you and your readers.

OWEN FIDDLER on Tour

2008-01-12T14:18:00.000-05:00

On January 19th I will be conducting an author interview in this space with Marvin Wilson Author of I ROMANCED THE STONE and OWEN FIDDLER.
The Ebook is out right now, selling on http://www.mobipocket.com/ and http://www.ebooksonthe.net/ for only $5.50. By the end of January, it should also be offered on http://www.fictionwise.com/ and it will be a Kindle Book on Amazon. The trade paperback version I expect out by mid-year. It will be available on Amazon and if not on the shelf at your local bookstore yet, you will be able to order a copy from just about anywhere. Print copies I estimate will cost in the $14 to $16 range.
Everyone who reads and comments on the interview will receive a small prize and will be entered into an author drawing for an even bigger one.
Watch this space January 19th.

It's been a while

2007-12-30T13:36:00.001-05:00

A series of life traumas have squelched my Muse for a while but I think she's back. I keep hearing these niggling voices in the back of my mind. My planned characters - birthing themselves and demanding to be heard. Their dictation can't be long in coming. Nor can it be soon enough for me. This hiatus has gone on too long.

I refuse to call it writer's block because to me that's something that happens to writers who are actively trying to write. That hasn't been the case with me. In my case, my Muse shut down completely and I became terrified that I would never get to live in a self-created fictional world again. Too many losses over too short a time. Sometimes life just gets in the way and sometimes the psyche draws a curtain around itself, taking time to heal. For a while there, I didn't even dream. I was that shutdown.

Hello, Muse, my friend. Welcome back.

The hand of time has writ

2006-09-14T09:46:00.000-04:00

I just heard that Anne Richards of Texas has succumbed to Cancer. The world will not be the same without her. She was nearly the last of a dying breed of strong outspoken women who never let the "good ole boys" get away with anything.

Drawing a blank

2006-09-13T10:48:00.000-04:00

There is no such thing as Writer's Block, only incubation periods.

The problems start when we do not allow for them. Instead of backing off and let our subconscious do its job, we poke and prod. Soon, our mind says, "Shut up, already. Can't you tell? I'm busy here!"

How often have you heard "Put it aside", "Come back to it with fresh eyes?" or some other version of "Let it rest?" Too many to count, I'll bet. And, how often have you gone to bed without a clue and awakened with words flowing so fast your fingers can't keep up? At least a time or three, I'll warrant. Both are examples of the subconscious at work.

Sometimes, the more you TRY to write, the less you accomplish.

The next time your story bogs down and refuses to move, go clean the refrigerator or mow the lawn. Go to the beach, the woods, the mountains, whatever it takes to get you away from the keyboard long enough for your subconscious to solve the riddles and write the story. It will all come out, ready to polish, sometime, if you will simply let it perk a while.

By insisting on writing NOW, when your mind is screaming, "Give me a break," you slow the creative process. The subconscious gets balky when it's pushed.

Sometimes, the piece you have in front of you is not the one your mind wants to deal with right now. Don't just sit there staring into space and swear you'll never come up with another idea. Load up a different file and see what happens. If that doesn't work, if your mind still refuses to cooperate, you can always do as I have done.

Run off a piece on non-existent writer's blocks.