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Current Projects
Helen of Troy was published last summer in hardcover from Viking, and
this May the Penguin paperback will come out. Part I of the French
edition, Helene de Troie: La Prisonniere de Sparte will be out in
June, and the German edition will follow in the autumn. There is also
a Turkish edition in the works, which will be fitting, as ancient Troy
actually lies in modern Turkey.
I’ve been to
Troy myself and walked in what is left of the streets where Helen roamed, stood
on the ramparts and experienced first-hand the legendary strong winds
of Troy. It blew my camera bag off a bench! In Greece I’ve seen exhibits
of the Mycenaean artifacts from the world she left behind, the gold cups
and jewelry, and also been to Sparta where she grew up. Sparta is a lovely
place, in a valley between high mountains that were snow-covered when
I was there in March. Helen led a sheltered life there until Paris showed
up one fateful day.
The most ‘hands-on’ research I did to explore Helen’s world was participating
in the Nemean Games, and you can read about it in the ANEW magazine article. In July, just two weeks before the Olympic
Games in Athens, at the second full moon after the solstice, as in ancient
times, I ran in a footrace sponsored by the Society for the Revival of
the Nemean Games. In this international event, we raced barefoot and in
tunics in the original ancient stadium in Nemea, not far from Helen’s
home. In Helen’s day, although women did not race with men, in Olympia
there was a traditional race for sixteen women in honor of Hera. Since
Helen was reputedly athletic, she may have run in such a race. In any
case, going to Nemea gave me a chance to walk---or rather, run---in Helen’s
historic footsteps. Read where this has taken me since, in 'Ancient and Modern Racing' on this website.
An unexpected opportunity to venture into a totally new type of book came
into my life, when a veterinarian friend and fellow tortoise-owner, Dr.
Christopher Murphy, proposed that we do a children’s book about our tortoises.
The result, a true-life story called LUCILLE LOST, will also be published
in 2006 by Viking Children’s Books. It features my pet Troilus (see Photo
Gallery #1) as one of the characters. Troilus has had to submit photos
so the artist can capture his true likeness. He doesn’t have a good or
a bad side, though, for his close-ups.
My first three books were recorded on audio cassettes in unabridged
form and I am happy to announce that they have now been converted to
downloadable versions from www.audible.com . Just in time to fill in
the gaps from The Tudors miniseries, which only covers a few years of
Henry VIII's life, now you can hear his whole story from his own point
of view.
One of the most thrilling professional experiences I’ve ever had was being
invited to address a medical meeting in Luxor, Egypt, to talk about Cleopatra
and her death by snakebite. I discussed the symbol of the cobra in ancient
Egypt and the medical aspects of the poison and how it worked in the body.
We ended with a 5-minute clip from her deathbed scene in the miniseries
made from my novel. The whole evening, held in a tent right beside the
lighted ruins of the Temple of Luxor, and entering by the Avenue of Sphinxes,
was as magical as anything Cleopatra would have staged. As a memento they
presented me with a lovely glass perfume vial and if I did not have that
I would wonder if the whole evening was just something I had dreamed.
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