Happy St. Joan's Day

Happy Memorial Day, and happy Joan of Arc Day! Today is the feast day of Jehanne d'Arc, the teenage peasant girl who believed she was called by God to rescue her native France from the grip of the Hundred Years' War. Surprisingly, she succeeded, leading troops in battle against the invading English and crowning the Dauphin Charles king of France. She was captured by the English in battle.

The king she had so faithfully served refused to ransom or rescue her, so the British tried her in a kangaroo church court and convicted her of heresy and witchcraft. She was burned at the stake on May 30, 1431. She was just nineteen years old.

Twenty-five years later, Pope Callixtus III looked into the matter, and proclaimed her an innocent martyr. She was canonized an official saint of the Catholic Church in 1920.

Whether you believe Joan's heavenly voices and visions were truly saints and angels of God, or merely a product of mental illness, you have to admit that she was a truly remarkable young woman. After all, it takes a special kind of illiterate teenage peasant girl to become a successful general, reconquer France, and crown a king, all before the age of twenty.

Why I Love Showtime's "The Borgias"

The first season of Showtime's historical drama "The Borgias" ended this past Sunday evening. I've been watching it since day one, and it didn't disappoint.

The show is loosely based on the historical Rodrigo Borgia, a Spanish cardinal who became one of the Catholic Church's most notorious popes, Alexander VI. Borgia, like too many important clergyman of his day, was a rather corrupt man who kept mistresses and openly acknowledged his illegitimate children. Rumors of bribery and even poisoning hung about him and his children; his beautiful daughter Lucrezia was said to have kept poison hidden in the jewel of her ring. In reality this is probably nothing more than a smear on her reputation, but hers was certainly a scandalous family. It was almost inevitable that their lives would be made into a TV show.

I'm not bothered that the show plays fast and loose with a number of historical facts. For example: Cesare was the second oldest son, not the oldest as he is in the show. Pope Alexander was a fat gourmand, not gaunt like Jeremy Irons. And he had more children--and mistresses--than he does in the show.

I don't mind major historical facts being messed with. You need to create an exciting plot. Life isn't plotted. As long as the little details like clothing and architecture are pretty accurate, I'm happy. And the details in "The Borgias" are gorgeous. The costumes and props are based on contemporary paintings, and the sets are replicas of Vatican, Roman, and Italian architecture. The costumes are so stunning they almost make me drool.

Portrait of Pope Alexander VI

Jeremy Irons as Pope Alexander VI

Irons is great as Rodrigo Borgia/Pope Alexander. He's an obviously corrupt man who has affairs despite his vow of celibacy, bribes his way to the papacy, plots against his enemies, and uses his children for his own gain. And yet he's a devoted family man and a shrewd politician with a wit as sharp as a steel sword. It's both impressive and tragic to watch what ambition and power does to him and his family.

Francois Arnaud as Cesare Borgia

Portrait of Cesare Borgia

Francois Arnaud broods, schemes, and loves as Rodrigo's son, Cesare Borgia. If possible, Cesare is even more morally ambiguous than his famous father, going so far as to employ an assassin. He even kills directly when he has to. Yet Cesare is tortured more by his conscience than his father. He can rationalize almost anything in the heat of the moment, but it always comes back to haunt him, sometimes with heartbreaking consequences.

Painting of Lucrezia Borgia

Holliday Grainger as Lucrezia Borgia

Holliday Grainger's Lucrezia Borgia is far and away my favorite character. She starts out sweet, innocent and bubbly, but over the course of the season she becomes savvier and more mature. Of all the characters, she changes the most. Yet, somehow, she retains much her innocence and...well, "moral purity" are the words that come to mind. She's the one basically good character in the show, free from the corruption that taints the other main characters.

The series contains nudity and intimacy, as well as some violence and gore, so if you have difficulty with any of these things this probably isn't the show for you. I wish it was less explicit, but it's a visually stunning and very entertaining series. I'll definitely be watching next season!

All images from the show were found on The Borgias Wiki and are the property of Showtime Networks, Inc. No copyright infringement is intended.

Wordless Wednesday: On the Balcony by Eugen von Blaas

Versatile Blogger Award

Taryn Tyler of Taliesin has bestowed upon me the "Versatile Blogger Award." Thank you! I thought I just made stuff up on the whim. But I guess that just means I'm versatile!

The rules are as follows (copied from Taryn's post):

The original rules:

1. Thank and link to the person who nominated you.
2. Share seven random facts about yourself.
3. Pass the award along to 5 deserving blogging buddies.
4. Contact those buddies to congratulate them

OR

Anita's new rules...

Instead of #2 above list the first and last lines of the first five chapters from one of your manuscripts. Can you see a story taking shape? Does it intrigue and intensify, making you want to read what's between?

I am going with the new rules. Alas, I only have the first two chapters of my novel done and am about to start the third.

Chapter 1 opening sentence: When Lord Ranofer awoke, he had no idea that he would be dead by the next morning.

Chapter 2 opening sentence: The priestesses stopped playing their music in mid-note.

Chapter 3 opening sentence (which I just wrote and which may change by tomorrow): Ranofer's body lay on a table in the Tent of Purification on the west bank.

I hope these are good sentences. Critiques and suggestions are welcome! I don't plan on revising anything until I'm done with the first draft, but I like to jot notes in the margins.

Isis through the Ages

Isis was an Egyptian goddess whose origins stretch back into prehistory. The best-known version of her story goes like this: Isis was married to her brother, the god Osiris. Osiris was king of Egypt and taught his people agriculture. Their brother Set was jealous of Osiris. One day, he hosted a party in Osiris' honor. All of Set's loyal followers were there. At the party there was a contest. Each guest had to get into a cedar chest to see if he fit in it. Of course Set had made the chest to his brother's exact measurements, so when Osiris got into the chest he fit perfectly. Set slammed the chest shut and hid it. He took over the throne.

Isis wandered all over the place until she found the chest with her husband's body inside. Set discovered where Isis had hid the chest and tore Osiris' body into 14 pieces, scattering them all over Egypt. Isis once again searched far and wide until she'd found all the pieces except for one, his manhood, which had been eaten by a fish. She created a new one with magic and managed to reanimate her husband long enough to conceive a son, Horus, who would grow up to avenge his father's murder and take his rightful place on the throne of Egypt.

This version of the myth was developed over thousands of years of Egyptian history; the earliest versions were probably very different. Just as the myth has changed over the years, so too have visual representations of Isis. I've compiled a small and unfortunately inadequate gallery of Isis images for your viewing pleasure.

Isis from the tomb of Seti I, c. 1380-1335 BC

Alexandrian Isis-Aphrodite terra cotta figurine, c. 1st Century AD

Roman statue of Isis, Hadrian era (c. 117-138 AD)

Roman bust of Isis-Sothis-Demeter, Hadrian era (c. 117-138 AD)

I even found a couple of medieval European images of Isis. Christian Europeans knew about Isis via classical sources (which, contrary to popular belief, were not all lost after the Roman Empire fell). In Paradise Lost, Milton casts Isis as one of the fallen angels. Isis was not always negative, however. In her proto-feminist work The City of Women, Christine de Pizan speaks very highly of Isis and extols her virtues, among them the invention of agriculture.

Some people believe that the images of Mary holding the infant Jesus, and especially images of Maria Lactans (Nursing Mary), were inspired by depictions of Isis holding and/or nursing her own baby son Horus. Whatever the case, there are post-pagan works that definitely depict Isis.

Woodcut of Isis from the Nuremberg Chronicle, c. 1493

French image of Isis, c. 15th-16th Centuries

Wordless Wednesday: An Oriental Beauty by Jean-François Portaels

My Thoughts on the Smallville Series Finale

Warning: the following contains spoilers about the series finale of Smallville.

I didn't watch this season of Smallville, so that undoubtedly had an effect on how I viewed the final episode. Still, I read detailed recaps of each episode for this season so I would understand what was going on.

There wasn't nearly as much action as I'd hoped for. It was two hours long, but it could easily have been just one. The extra hour was mostly taken up with conversations about what it means to move on, as well as plenty of nostalgic flashbacks of footage from the past ten years. You expect some trips down memory lane in the final episode of such a long-running series. But was it really necessary to stop in the middle of one of the few action scenes and run a montage of clips from past episodes? Come on, I just wanted to see him beat the bad guy.

Speaking of bad guys, Lex Luthor was very incidental in this episode, a disappointment since Michael Rosenbaum hasn't been in the show for several years. Instead, Clark has to stop the Apocalypse and prevent an evil creature named Darkseid from taking over the world. The Apocalypse is a fiery planet on a collision-course towards earth, and Darkseid's followers are quite clear that their master is actually Satan, although they don't specifically say so. They yammer on about how they will be Raptured and how they need to baptize people and save them to serve their Lord and Savior. The followers of Darkseid all have an omega symbol branded into their foreheads.

I've always been fascinated that Superman, a character created by two Jewish boys in the 1930s, has such strongly Christian undertones and characteristics. Smallville carried on this tradition. In the very first episode of the very first season, Clark was tied to a cross-shaped scarecrow stand, a blood-red S painted on his naked torso, while he suffered the effects of a kryptonite necklace hung around his neck by cruel senior pranksters.

This final episode also portrays Clark as a uniquely American version of Jesus, this time drawing on the Book of Revelation rather than the gospels. The only things missing are the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

I did enjoy the last several scenes of the finale, once they finally got down to action rather than philosophizing and reminiscing. They used the traditional Superman music, which was also a huge plus. Still, I was left unsatisfied. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't a terrible finale. It was just...somewhat anticlimactic. The very last scene confused me. It takes place in 2018, and Clark and Lois talk about getting ready for their upcoming wedding. Except they were already getting married seven years ago, had actually said their vows, when they were interrupted by the almost-end of the world. Why did they wait another seven years to officially put the rings on? No explanation is given.

I disliked the invention of gold kryptonite, which is supposed to permanently take away Clark's powers. They've invented several different kinds of kryptonite for Smallville, all of which I'm cool with except for this one. I wonder if anyone else picked up on the implications of this kryptonite. While the episode ended triumphantly with Clark becoming Superman and donning the suit to go save the world, all I could think was that it's only a matter of time before someone else figures out what gold kryptonite does and uses it on him. A bleak future indeed. Although once you've defeated the devil incarnate, who else does the world need protection from? Lex Luthor must be child's play compared to Satan himself.

Wordless Wednesday AGAIN: Statue of Nofret

It seems that Blogger deleted this post, which I originally published on Wednesday. My apologies. There was a really good post on myths about the Middle Ages by historical fiction author Rosanne E. Lortz that I wanted to comment on, but it's disappeared too.

A Gallery of Royal Brides

In honor of the recent royal wedding, I've compiled a gallery of royal brides throughout the centuries. I tried to find some older images but I didn't have much luck. If you know of any, please post links in the comments. I'd love to see them! I'm getting married in less than four months so I have wedding on the brain.

Maria de Medici and Henry IV of France, married October 1600

Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert, married 10 February 1840

Khedive Tawfiq Pasha of Egypt and Princess Amina of Istanbul, married January 1873

Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom, married 1885

Emperor Nicholas II of Russia and Alix of Hesse, married 14/26 November 1894

Prince Aisin-Gioro Pujie of China and Lady Hiro Saga, married 1937

The Kennedys aren't a royal family, but they're the closest thing we have, so here you go:

JFK and Jackie O., married 12 September 1953

Wordless Wednesday: Fresco from the Temple of Io and Isis, Pompeii

The Ups and Downs of Writing Historical Fantasy

Historical fantasy is one of those vague, fluid subgenres that is very hard to categorize. Should it be in the literature section of the bookstore? Or the fantasy section?

I've been pondering this lately because my work in progress is an historical fantasy that takes place in the context of ancient Egyptian culture, religion, and magic. I wonder where my novel will be shelved if (God willing) it gets published. It's heavily historical, but it's also heavily magical and supernatural.

Historical fantasy is such a vague label. Stephanie Dray's novel Lily of the Nile is historical fantasy, and so is Guy Gavriel Kay's Tigana. Dray's novel is in the Fiction and Literature section, while Kay's is in the Fantasy and Science Fiction section.

I don't like the broad nature of the Fiction and Literature section of many bookstores (yeah, I'm lookin' at you, B&N). It contains such a broad range of fiction, from classics to historical to contemporary to just about any other kind of fiction--even some fantasy! How on earth do they determine what goes where? Does the publisher tell them where it should be shelved? I should probably learn this before I submit to agents so I know as much about the publishing industry as possible.

I really enjoy writing my historical fantasy novel, wherever it may end up in the store. In some ways it's harder than writing a straight-up historical novel. You have to blend the history and fantasy seamlessly. I'm following the rules of ancient Egyptian heka (magic) and religion as closely as possible. Of course, in order to make a realistic novel I do have to break out on my own and make stuff up. Historical fantasy is difficult to write, but it's so much fun.