Posts labeled Ancient Greece
Review - Honey and Pepper by A.J. Demas
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Nikias is a recently freed slave that's come to the big city to find work. He ends up working in a snack stall that occupies one corner of a grand old house. That's where he first spots Kallion, a man about Nikias's age who seems to work at the mansion. The two meet when Kallion is attacked outside the house, and despite some initial misunderstandings, they become friends. But Kallion harbors a dark secret about his cruel former master that prevents him from fully opening up to Nikias.
Tags: Fantasy Ancient Greece
Review - Strong Wine by A.J. Demas
My rating:
Note: The author kindly offered an advanced copy of this book in exchange for a review. You can purchase this release starting October 14, 2021. Another month has passed since Damiskos came to visit his lover Varazda in Saffron Alley. He really doesn't want to go home to Pheme, but knows he will need to at some point, at least to move out of his lodgings and collect his horse.
Tags: Fantasy Ancient Greece Mystery
Review - Saffron Alley by A.J. Demas
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Note: The author kindly offered an advanced copy of this book in exchange for a review. A month has passed since the events recounted in Sword Dance. Damiskos has returned to Pheme while Varazda has come back to Boukos, but now Damiskos is coming for a visit and Varazda wonders what the ex-soldier will make of the odd little family he has created over the years living in Saffron Alley.
Tags: Fantasy Ancient Greece
Review - Something Human by A.J. Demas
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Adares, the young archon of Tios, seems doomed to die of thirst and starvation on the battlefield outside of the city he only recently was elected ruler of. He’s not seriously hurt but he’s trapped under his horse and the ruins of a seige cart. Just as he is pretty much resigned to his fate, he’s pulled out of his predicament by Rus, a young priest-warrior from the attacking Luth tribe.
Tags: Fantasy Ancient Greece
Review - Sword Dance by A.J. Demas
My rating:
Damiskos is a retired army officer working for the quartermaster corps, since his parents spent the family fortune and the army doesn’t pay much in the way of retirement. He’s been sent to a seaside villa to negotiate the purchase of fish sauce from the owner, who happens to be an old friend from the capital city. It’s supposed to be a bit of a vacation, but on arrival he finds the house filled with philosophy students, and a businessman from a neighboring island-state who also has a captivating eunuch slave, Varazda.
Tags: Fantasy Ancient Greece
Review - Alexander the Great by in60Learning
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Kindly note: The publisher of this series provided a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. in60Learning is a new range of books designed to provide and overview of people and events of the past in an easily digestible format. With a total print length of around 40 pages, they are meant, as the publisher’s name implies, to be read in around 60 minutes. The publisher offered me my choice of books for review.
Tags: non-fiction Ancient Greece
Review - Ganymede: Abducted by the Gods by Wendy Rathbone
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In Greek mythology, Ganymede was a young man or boy born in the area that would become Troy. He was supposedly so beautiful that the god Zeus, chief among all the immortals, kidnaps and brings Ganymede to Olympus to serve as his cup-bearer and become immortal himself. This retelling of the classic story is given from Ganymede’s point of view, and puts a science fiction spin on the tale. Although not original, the idea that the gods of Greek mythology were aliens from a technologically advanced civilization is still well played.
Tags: Ancient Greece Myth Science Fiction
Review - Hector and Anatolius by Vanessa Mulberry
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In Homer’s epic recounting of the Trojan war, the Iliad, prince Hector was Troy’s greatest warrior but, he tends to excite little interest from modern day authors looking for inspiration. “Hector and Anatolius” tells the story of Hector before the Greeks, or even Helen, arrive. Hector is the dutiful son and heir to king Priam in most respects, except in his resistance to find a woman to marry. His inclinations lie in another direction entirely.
Tags: Ancient Greece
Review - The Lusty Adventures of Theseus by Arthur Griffin
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Have you ever considered how much the versions of Greek Myths that we know today must have been sanitized, modified or otherwise changed over the years? The bulk of the legends evolved over 3,000 years ago, and certainly changed much over the course of the centuries. The stories as we know them today are still full of bad behavior: rape, incest, and many other sorts of human fallibility. How much bawdier might the “original” stories have been in their own time?
Tags: Ancient Greece Myth
Review - An Arrow's Flight
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In the old legend of the Trojan war, Pyrrhus is the son of Achilles. After the death of his father, Pyrrhus is drawn to Troy and plays a part in the ultimate fall of the city. This retelling of that chapter of the classic tale sets the story in recent history and translates many elements of the story into cultural terms that almost any reader (especially gay ones) will understand.
Tags: Ancient Greece