Posts labeled Ancient Greece
Review - Hector and Anatolius by Vanessa Mulberry
My rating: 
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
Review - The Song of Achilles
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The love between Achilles and Patroclus is one of the great classics of Greek literature. For gay men, it’s a story we can look to as proof that there have always been men who loved other men, and they weren’t always as reviled as we sometimes feel in modern society. It’s no wonder that contemporary authors keep returning to the story to try and reinterpret it. “The Song of Achilles” gives us the story from Patroclus’ point of view.
Tags: Ancient Greece Myth
Review - The Rise and Fall of the Sacred Band of Thebes
My rating:
This review has also appeared at Speak Its Name. The Rise and Fall of the Sacred Band of Thebes opens on that fateful day on the plain of Chaeronea, when Philip and his golden son wipe out almost all of the Sacred Band. Almost all, for although badly wounded, Nikanoras still lives, much to his shame. Alexander finds him and has his wounds tended. From that desperate opening scene, we flash back to Nikanoras’ childhood.
Tags: Historical Ancient Greece
Review - Alike As Two Bees
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This review was originally written for Speak Its Name. This version contains a bit of a spoiler, so if you don’t want that, read the version that appears at Speak Its Name where it’s been edited out. Anatolios and Philon are young apprentice sculptors in Classical Greece. Anatolios is a precocious boy of just 13 years. Philon is much older, around 20, and treats Anatolios like a brother. Their master Nikias treats both boys as his own sons.
Tags: Ancient Greece
Review - Achilles: A Love Story
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This review was originally written for the Speak Its Name web site: The Greek era has always been one of my favorites for historical romance. Perhaps it’s because Mary Ranault’s Alexander books were the first historical novels with a gay bent I ever read, or maybe it’s just because it was a time when love between men was not only accepted, but almost expected. So I had high, perhaps unreasonable, hopes when offered “Achilles: A Love Story”.
Tags: Historical Ancient Greece