Val Penny’s “Hunter’s Chase” on tour
Hunter by name – Hunter by nature: DI Hunter Wilson will not rest until Edinburgh is safe.
Detective Inspector Hunter Wilson knows there is a new supply of cocaine flooding his city, and he needs to find the source, but his attention is transferred to murder when a corpse is discovered in the grounds of a golf course.
PHILIPPI
Now that I’ve done the – 9th? 10th? – revision of the third novel in my Lucius Sestius trilogy, I am beginning to feel quite strongly about what my hero went through. Not what I have put him through – that is justifiable for the novelist! But the real Lucius Sestius Quirinalis went through enough […]
Roman names
I have a problem; Roman names . . .
The pearls of Pliny the Elder
My goodness, Pliny the Elder did not like pearls. Or seafood.
“Luxurious living and the corruption of morals arises mostly from shellfish.” (Book 9. 104)
Straight from telling us about crabs running backwards and changing into scorpions, Pliny gets right down to the nitty-gritty (oyster and pearl joke there), and goes on:
“Out of the whole of the natural world, the sea causes most harm to our stomachs.”
Etruscan towers
The Sestius family were associated with the town of Cosa through the number of amphorae discovered in the area, all with the family stamp. At the time of my Sestius family, Cosa was going through a decline, with rich owners investing in business-like villa estates out in the countryside and the great archaeologist Andrea Carandini […]
The real Lucius Sestius
I came across the Sestius family when I read Cicero’s speech defending Publius Sestius on charges of political violence. In the middle of the speech, delivered in 56 BCE, Cicero points out that the teenage son of the defendant, the defendant’s daughter and even his aged father-in-law are there in court. Roman lawyers would use […]
Christmas pearls
I was very happy when the Qatar National Library published my short story “The Pearl of Catara” on their blog yesterday! For Qatar National Day, the Library had asked people to write stories celebrating Qatar’s milestones, and this story was inspired by the appearance of Qatar in maps. https://www.qnl.qa/en/blogs/12430 In the Library’s specialist Heritage Library […]
The Ara Pacis
I’m thinking of how to end the Lucius Sestius trilogy at the moment, and I’ve decided to make him one of the sculptures on the Ara Pacis which has always been one of my favourites. I first saw it before it had its facelist and transferral to the lovely museum created for it which you […]
The Pearl of Catara
Day 3 of NaNoWriMo and we need to celebrate! Here is a story I wrote in response to a challenge from Qatar National Library – to write something celebrating Qatar’s milestones. In this story, I imagine something making it all the way from Qatar to Rome for the first time, and ending up being bought […]
Sulpicia
Love has come at last!
I’m not going to be shy – yell it out!
My Muses begged the goddess and she dropped him into my lap.
Venus kept her promise. She tells my joy to anyone who doesn’t believe.
No messenger for this poem – the boy will be the first to read it.
Being a bad girl is fun! Reputation? Hah!
I’m his, he’s mine, all I need anyone to know
