Today two wonderful posts by LJ friends made me sit up and pay attention (not an easy task, since I'm still running myself ragged from one school to the next).

The first was from  la_marquise_de_ , introducing this very interesting article about the myths (as in 'things we believe are true but aren't') about the Celts (first thing, did a more or less unified ( Read more... )

Note to self:

Stay away from writers who say how much they researched their novel.

People who know what they are doing are perfectly aware of how much they don't know about the topic they are writing about, and thread accordingly. People new to the topic often lack the basics that would allow them to really understand what they are reading, and/ ( Read more... )

had been close allies for about 2000 years, how would world history be different?

A few days ago ysabetwordsmith left a prompt to thesilentpoet:

In 97 AD, Chinese General Pan Chao sent an embassy to the Roman empire, but little came of it. Suppose China and Italy had united, how would that change things?

This poem was the result, outlining a whole timeline. If you know me you ( Read more... )

Read The Treasures of Marco Polo a poem by ysabetwordsmith based on my prompt about some objects Marco brought back from his travels and their possible history and significance.

The objects are real and documented, the poem is part of an alternate history series in which China and Italy have been closed allies for about 2000 years because they are two of the many ( Read more... )

Is a very interesting fantasy/alternate history novel by a three-writer team, Mercedes Lackey, Eric Flint and Dave Freer.

I'm often wary of collaborations, but in this case as I was reading I kept forgetting that the book has more than one author, no mean feat, in my opinion.

I picked The Shadow of the Lion from the Baen Free Library, I was intrigued ( Read more... )

Every now and then, either on LiveJournal or one of the various blogs and sites about books I read, I find threads recommending books by POC authors or alternate history titles: Lion's Blood (Insh'Allah) is both.

i discovered Steven Barnes' works years ago, via his cooperation with Larry Niven, the Dream Park series (I don't know a single role- ( Read more... )