Writing Women Back into History
This illustration, from Wikipedia Media Commons, depicts medieval women hunting. This article of mine was originally published in the May 2008 issue of Solander Magazine, published by the Historical Novel Society.We have been lost to each other for so long. My name means nothing to you. My memory is dust. This is not your fault or mine. The chain connecting mother to daughter was broken and the word passed into the keeping of men, who had no way of knowing. That is why I became a footnote, my story a brief detour between the well-known history of my father and the celebrated chronicle of my...
Read MoreA Brief History of Enchantment: Witchy October Reads
This article of mine was originally published in the February 2010 Issue of Historical Novels Review.A Brief History of Enchantment: Magic Goes MainstreamParanormal fiction is hot. Think of the huge popularity of the Harry Potter and Twilight series; of adult fantasy/historical fiction crossovers such as Susanne Clarke’s eccentric doorstopper, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell; not to mention Seth Grahame-Smith’s quirky genre-bender, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. “The publishing world has seen an explosion in fiction featuring a wide array of paranormal elements,” says literary agent...
Read MoreThe Birth Machine by Elizabeth Baines
Elizabeth Baines’s controversial book, THE BIRTH MACHINE, has just been re-issued. Be sure to check out this title, as well as Elizabeth’s fabulous short fiction in the anthology, BITCH LIT, published by Crocus Books and co-edited by Maya Chowdhry and yours truly! REBIRTH: LONG-AWAITED REISSUE OF ACCLAIMED NOVEL EXPOSING HI-TECH CHILDBIRTHIn ELIZABETH BAINES’S acclaimed novel, THE BIRTH MACHINE, Zelda lies on a hospital bed about to undergo hi-tech childbirth. But things don’t go to plan, and as her labour goes wrong and the drugs take over, the past blends with the present and...
Read MoreChristopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus
In the witch trials that raged across Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries, legal authorities strove to uncover evidence of a pact between the accused witch and the devil. But did this alleged pact ever exist except in the imaginations of the witchfinders?The legend of Doctor Faustus captivated the public because it purported to reveal the story of real-life German magician, alchemist, and astronomer, Johann Georg Faust, who died in 1540. Rumour had it that his powers were given to him by the devil. His legend first appeared in print in a 1587 chapbook, Das Faustbuch, a cautionary tale of...
Read MoreLammas-tide and Harvest Home
August 1 marks the beginning of the grain harvest in Britain, a period of intense labour and also celebration. In our age of convenience foods perhaps it’s hard to imagine how important the harvest was in centuries past. The harvest could be poor, or fail entirely. If a community suffered two bad harvests in a row, entire families would starve.The word “Lammas” derives from the Anglo-Saxon “hlaef-mass” or loaf mass. The first grain of the year would be reaped and then baked into a bread, which was consecrated in the church upon the first Sunday of August. A...
Read MoreGuest Post: History’s Black Widow
This week I’d like to present a guest post by C W Gortner, author of The Confessions of Catherine de Medici. Many of you already know Gortner from his previous novel, The Last Queen, which presents a sensitive portrait of the tragically misunderstood Juana “La Loca” of Castile. Gortner has passionately rewritten the histories of these maligned women, giving them voice and allowing them to tell their stories and set the record straight. And you never know . . . he might eventually write about a 17th century Firebrand. -Mary SharrattHistory’s Black Widow: The Legend of...
Read MoreAbout Mary Sharratt
An American author living on the Silver Coast of Portugal, Mary Sharratt is on a mission to write women back into history. She is the author of Revelations and seven previous critically acclaimed novels, including Daughters of the Witching Hill, the Nautilus Award–winning Illuminations: A Novel of Hildegard von Bingen, The Dark Lady’s Mask: A Novel of Shakespeare’s Muse, and Ecstasy, about the life, loves, and music of Alma Mahler. When she is not writing, you can find her riding her beautiful Welsh mare.
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