You may have noticed I’ve been quite busy here. I’ve been talking up the Kindle Exclusive release of Poseidon and Cleito from EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy, and now I’m switching gears to let you know about another title, just released today at retailers worldwide by Bold Strokes Books.
How about that? It’s a big month for me, and I’m doing my best to keep up with it!
I wrote The City of Seven Gods as somewhat of an adult companion piece to The Seventh Pleiade and Banished Sons of Poseidon. The setting is similarly ancient world, though the sources of inspiration roamed a bit farther, and farther back in history, to Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Africa.
The story is also a departure from the Atlantis legend, which may come as a surprise (yes, I do write about other things besides Atlantis from time to time). I was inspired by the grandness and religiosity of the great cities of the ancient world like Ur and Babylon and Alexandria, and I wanted to expore what life may have been like during a time of nascent, cosmopolitan living, lavish religious iconography, and huge divisions between the rich and poor. The story follows two men of minor status finding their way through that world.
Here’s the back cover blurb:
Kelemun was bought from his peasant parents to tend the inner sanctum of the house of Aknon, where wealthy men pay mountain sapphires to behold the beautiful servants of the god. Chosen to bring offerings to Caliph, Kelemun captures the fascination of the young prince Praxtor who has never been denied anything his heart desires.
Ja’bar was hired to roughhouse wayward proselytes for the high priest Aknon-Horheb. In Qabbat’lee, it’s good paying work for a Stripeling, a jungle savage in the eyes of the city natives, and if he’s stingy and stays out of trouble, it will buy him a plot of river land.
But the splendor of Qabbat’lee is a mirage disguising a grotesquerie of corruption. When Kelemun and Ja’bar’s threads of fate entwine on a night of chilling betrayal, their only hope for redemption and survival may lie in one another.
The City of Seven Gods kicks off a new series called The Lost Histories, which will chronicle the lives of an ancient people in a world where men are bought and sold, religious cults vie for wealth and power, and civilizations clash. I’m presently tucking into the manuscript for Book 2. All this month look for giveaways and inside-the-story features here and at blogs like Queer Sci Fi and The Novel Approach. And, if you want to pick up the book right away, I posted the handy buy links below. When you buy at the publisher’s webstore, you can bundle your purchase for extra savings.
Mary Renault’s series on the history of Alexander the Great is absolutely fantastic. Probably because of its intriguing perspective, I enjoyed the most The Persian Boy, which is told from the point-of-view of Alexander’s eunuch attendant and lover Bagoas. The book certainly has strong romantic elements, but it’s not a romance novel in the modern sense. The story follows the tragic history of Bagoas, a boy who is castrated and bought and sold to various masters after his chieftain father is overthrown and murdered. He ends up in Alexander’s household, and the story chronicles the conquest of the Persian empire, Alexander’s ill-fated march into India, and the last days of his life in Babylon, all through the eyes of an unlikely and compelling storyteller.
So by now you can tell I have a preference for character-driven, atmospheric stories over sword-clashing adventures. I do like action-adventures from time-to-time, but I really have to connect with the heroes to enjoy the story. If what drives them is simply “for the honor of home and country,” I just can’t work up much enthusiasm.
Over the years, I’ve been happy to discover a subset of ancient world books with mystery elements. I grew up reading mysteries, and in my 20s read a lot in the area of gay fiction. Ancient world + mystery is a winning formula for me. Ancient world + mystery + gay characters is even better, which is why I singled out Steven Saylor’s Roma Sub Rosa series and The Seven Wonders of the World.
One last pick from me: I really enjoyed Zachary Mason’s ambitious “excavated” stories about Odysseus and some of the other heroes of the Trojan War. His writing style is gorgeously evocative of the time period, and what I also appreciated was the unexpected but believable twists to the well-known source material. For example, Odysseus, returning to Ithaca after ten years of adventures, finds Penelope remarried, and shrugs off that they have both moved on with their lives, which, for what I’ve come to understand about the world, feels like a more likely outcome than murdering his wife’s suitors and settling back into married life.
