Andromache's Prize

I've got cover art to share, this time from the excellent Siolnatine (my favorite cover artist of the mythical). Love the way this cover refers to the style of Ancient Greek art.

Andromache's Prize is a lesbian love story set against the aftermath of The Trojan War. It pairs Andromache (wife to the late Hector) with Briseis (famous coveted object of Achilles and Agamemnon). It's a war story, so the opening is brutal and harsh -- be warned that some readers may find it disturbing.

I love The Iliad more than I can explain, so I'm really excited to write in its world. The book will drop in about a week, and you can check out an excerpt now at Forbidden Fiction's story page.

(This story was formerly titled "After Troy, the Women.")

Iliad Fan Fiction

I've got another story on the way from Forbidden Fiction -- "After Troy, the Women." This is a riff on The Iliad. The principal characters are Briseis (the woman that Agamemnon and Achilles fight over in the beginning of the work) and Andromache (wife of Hector). I like fan fiction, and have read more than my share of works devoted to Dragon Age, but haven't really written any. This is the closest I've come, I'd say.

I love The Iliad, and have read it once every few years since my Freshman year of college. This story is my love letter to the book, my game with the characters it introduces. I have a thing for pastiche, but this isn't an example of that. I'm in the world, but not speaking like Homer.

Fan fiction based on The Iliad sort of illustrates a major point about fan fiction, which is that it's been going on a long time. If you think of "After Troy, the Women" as Iliad fan fiction, you can point to a whole lot more where that came from. Song of Achilles, say, or even Virgil's Aeneid. Writers have been riffing on other writer's work for thousands of years. Glad to throw my hat into the ring.