Hagia Sophia, a 5th century church has Viking graffiti carved into the wood railing--a medieval 'Kilroy was here.'

It's featured in Silk Dreams

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Harem Lore

SILK DREAMS research . . .

     One only has to thumb the pages of the Bible to find the oldest harem story in the world—the Book of Esther.

     If you read the Book of Esther, you’ll find one of my favorite Bible characters—the uppity Queen Vashti. This strong-minded woman had the effrontery to refuse to display her beauty before her husband’s drunken dinner guests when he ordered her to do so. Of course, she paid for her insolence by being banished from her husband’s sight and having her crown given to another, but perhaps she felt it was an even trade. King Ahasuerus never struck me as much of a prize anyway.

     Which brings us to the darker side of life in the zenana.

     When a large group of women are sequestered in a limited space with little to occupy themselves and only one man among them whose favor must be courted, jealousy and intrigue is a forgone conclusion. Time spent with the lord of the harem was the currency of the household. It determined the size and opulence of the quarters granted, the quality of dress and jewels as well as the number of servants allotted to a “favorite.” Opium addiction was common and a discrete murder or poisoning that led to miscarriage was not unheard of.

     It will come as no surprise to my readers that the hero of SILK DREAMS is not the lord of the harem. I couldn’t envision a polygamous hero. There is something in each of us which cries out for exclusivity from our lover. I weep for the women who actually loved the master of their harem. They must have died nightly when he chose another.

The human heart was not made for such things.

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Seeing the Book of Kells on display at Trinity College in Dublin inspired me to make my heroine in ERINSONG an illuminator--an artist who decorates manuscripts with fanciful designs and ornamentation.

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My interest in Vikings started with studying their legends and lore, a cosmology as rich as the Greco-Roman system. Filled with shape-shifters and tricksters, the Norse valued guile as much as strength in their deities. The Norse doomsday myth, Ragnarok is a chilling tale. The Norse gods are all doomed to die! Kind of explains Nordic stoicism, huh?

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In DISTRACTING THE DUCHESS, Queen Victoria makes a cameo appearance. Later Victorians stitched up little pantaloons to cover their piano legs lest the  bare wood lead to lascivious thoughts. But before she became the Widow of Windsor, the young queen had a scantily-clad bacchanalia painted on her boudoir. Proof positive that "Repressed sex is the best sex!"                Read more

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Pleasuring the Pirate

Did you know that not all pirate flags were black with the skull and cross-bones? If a pirate crew flew a red flag it was sure to melt the bowels of their prey. A red flag meant they would neither accept nor give quarter. They meant to kill everyone aboard.

Conditions on board a pirate vessel were often better for the crew than aboard naval vessels of the time. There was a rough system of democracy among pirates when the King's sailors often endured 'a taste of the cat' (a beating with  a 9- tailed whip) for disobeying their commanders. If pirates disagreed, they were not to strike each other on the ship. All arguments were settled on land by sword or pistol.

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Coming August 2008 Pre-Order your PIRATE NOW

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Wonderful News!

 A 3rd Emily Bryan book is coming. Look for VEXING THE VISCOUNT to hit the shelves in the spring of 2009

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Click here for SILK DREAMS BookPeek!

One early English chronicler bemoaned the way the Norse invaders were "seeking to undermine the chastity of our English women with their foreign wiles."

And what were these 'wily' Northmen doing?

Combing their hair and wearing clean undergarments.

Sounds like the English women were suckers for a guy in clean drawers!

Those wily Northmen really got around. Not only did they explore the North Atlantic and make landfall on the American continent a full 500 years before Columbus, they also trekked far into what is now Russia. Vikings sailed down the rivers of Europe to the Black Sea and were even found in Constantinople and Baghdad!

After a flotilla of dragonships attempted the sack of Constantinople, the Byzantine Emperor decided to graft them into his Empire. He hired these northern pirates to be his elite personal fighting force, the Varangian guard. Imagine those bearded barbarians as the unlikely watchdogs in the most glittering, sophisticated court of its time!

Better yet, read about it in SILK DREAMS. The hero, Erik, is a Varangian!

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Pets in my Stories!

Two of my heroines have pets. Valdis in SILK DREAMS has a little dog named Loki who is able to warn her of an impending seizure. Artemisia in DISTRACTING THE DUCHESS is the proud companion of two cats, Castor and Pollux. No one may be said to own a cat.